With the start of the Black Friday shopping season and the approach of Christmas, millions of consumers worldwide gear up to take advantage of discounts and purchase items they’ve desired for months. However, while many are still comparing prices or completing their registrations on virtual stores, a legion of automated shopping bots is already securing the most coveted items. These bots not only make life difficult for the average consumer but also change the dynamics of e-commerce, creating a parallel market where products are resold at exorbitant prices.

Whether it’s a newly launched gaming console, a cutting-edge graphics card, or even a popular toy, these automated software programs are designed to act with precision and speed, eliminating any possibility of competition for humans.

Shopping bots, or simply “bots,” are programs that monitor retail websites, identify items in stock, and often complete purchases in mere milliseconds. They perform these tasks with efficiency unmatched by humans, especially during high-demand periods like Black Friday.

While most consumers struggle with slow-loading pages, sluggish payment systems, or error messages, bots bypass these obstacles, securing a privileged position in the virtual queue. Some of these programs are designed merely to alert users about product availability, but the more sophisticated ones handle the entire process automatically—from filling in payment details to completing the purchase.

A classic example of this efficiency was the launch of the Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card in 2020. The entire stock was sold out in less than a second. Ordinary consumers didn’t even get a chance to click the “Buy Now” button, which had already been replaced with “Sold Out.” Within minutes, the cards began appearing on resale sites like eBay at prices far above the original, sparking outrage among legitimate buyers.

Bots create an unfair and frustrating environment for average consumers, turning affordable items into luxury products. This imbalance is most evident in high-demand product categories, such as:

• Technology: consoles, graphics cards, smartphones, and other cutting-edge devices.
• Fashion and footwear: limited-edition sneakers, collector’s items, and designer clothing.
• Popular toys: special releases that become “must-haves” for kids and collectors.
• Event tickets: while regulated in some countries like the UK, this market is still bot-dominated in many regions.

Rob Burke, former e-commerce director at international retailer GameStop, highlighted that during major launches, over 60% of daily website traffic was generated by bots. “These bots not only monopolize stock but also slow down websites, harming the browsing experience for real consumers.”

Behind the operation of these bots lies a highly organized parallel market, involving everything from developers of advanced software to private resale groups. These groups, known as “cook groups,” primarily operate on chat platforms like Discord, where they share exclusive information about stock availability, release times, and buying strategies.

These groups charge membership fees ranging from $50 to hundreds of dollars per month, and the most advanced bots can cost thousands of dollars or be rented for specific periods.

Some even rent servers located physically close to the target retailers’ servers, reducing internet connection response time by fractions of a second. This small advantage can be enough to outperform competitors—whether other bots or ordinary consumers.

The origin of this market? The limited-edition sneaker sector. In recent years, demand for exclusive sneakers led to the development of highly sophisticated bots capable of bypassing virtual queues and securing the most sought-after models. These bots eventually migrated to other retail sectors, expanding their influence into technology and entertainment markets.

The use of bots not only harms individual consumers but also impacts the market as a whole. Many retailers face public backlash and even boycotts due to their inability to control bot usage on their platforms.

For consumers, the impact is direct:

• Inflated prices: Items purchased by bots are resold at abusive prices, often doubling or tripling the original value.
• Restricted access: Products meant to be widely available become exclusive to a small group willing to pay inflated prices.

According to the American consultancy Cowen, the sneaker resale market alone generates about $2 billion annually, with 20% yearly growth. This reflects the lucrative potential of these practices but also underscores the challenge for consumers and retailers.

While bot usage remains legal in much of the world, some initiatives aim to limit their impact. In the UK, for example, specific legislation prohibits the use of bots to purchase tickets, but e-commerce still lacks robust regulations.

Meanwhile, retailers have resorted to creative strategies:

• Manual codes: During the PlayStation 5 launch, British retailer Currys PC World displayed inflated prices for all consumers. Only those with pre-orders received exclusive codes to lower the price to its original value.
• Paid queues: Some stores allow consumers to pay a fee to secure a spot in the virtual queue, with refunds in case of failure.
• Cancellation of suspicious purchases: Retailers manually review orders, canceling transactions made by suspicious accounts or sent to the same address in large volumes.
• Monitoring anomalous activity: Companies are investing in artificial intelligence to identify bot-associated behavior patterns and block them before purchase completion.

Not all bots are villains. For example, price scraping systems are used by retailers themselves to monitor competitor promotions and adjust their own offers in real time. This practice can benefit consumers by leading to more aggressive discounts during major sales periods.

The battle between retailers and bots is a cat-and-mouse game far from over. As bot technologies become more sophisticated, companies are also refining their defense tools. For consumers, the challenge will be navigating this competitive landscape, where technological agility may outweigh patience.

Whether during Black Friday, Christmas, or any other high-demand period, the impact of bots will continue to shape the future of e-commerce, with increasingly profound ethical, economic, and social implications.