AI is already a shopping channel: ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly users, UK shoppers ask AI over 1.9 million questions a month about everyday products, and shoppers who arrive from AI convert 42% better. Yet in our audits of 36 online retailers, the typical store appeared in only 15% of the answers in its own category.
How often do stores show up in AI answers?
In October 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews 2,736 shopping questions about 36 online retailers in 6 countries. Questions like "best online pharmacy for…" or "where to buy a padel racket", asked from each store's market.
| Finding | 36 retailers |
|---|---|
| Answers that name the typical retailer (median), in its own category | 15% |
| Retailers named in fewer than 1 in 5 questions | 75% (27 of 36) |
| Retailers with a competitor recommended more often, or not named at all | 72% (26 of 36) |
| Retailers never named | 14% (5 of 36) |
| Retailers whose site AI links to in under 5% of answers | 61% (22 of 36) |
Source: Semantico audits, 10–27 October 2026. These are retailers we audited, not a random sample of the market. A store counts as named in a question when at least one assistant names it.
How many questions do people ask AI in each retail category?
Monthly questions to AI assistants about 420 product terms per market (about 3 per subcategory), September 2026. It's a floor: each category gets far more questions than these terms alone.
| Category | UK | US | Spain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electronics & appliances | 533k | 2.5M | 103k |
| Health & beauty | 404k | 1.9M | 94k |
| Home & kitchen | 173k | 571k | 50k |
| Sports | 217k | 791k | 44k |
| DIY & home improvement | 210k | 837k | 42k |
| Fashion | 162k | 585k | 41k |
| Food, wine & drink | 162k | 515k | 25k |
| Outdoor, tactical & security | 32k | 203k | 10k |
| Motorcycles | 14k | 57k | 6k |
| Total | 1.9M+ | ~7.9M | 400k+ |
Source: DataForSEO AI search volume, September 2026. It's an estimate of usage in AI tools; ambiguous terms such as "football" or "dress" are left out.
How many people use AI to shop?
- 900M+ people use ChatGPT every week (OpenAI via TechCrunch, February 2026).
- 53% of ChatGPT users researched or compared products on it in the past month (Morgan Stanley survey, US, 2025).
- 55% of consumers say AI recommendations at least sometimes influence what they buy (NielsenIQ, 21,000 people in 31 countries, October 2026).
Do shoppers from AI buy more?
- AI-referred traffic to US retail sites grew 393% year on year in Q1 2026 (Adobe).
- Those visitors convert 42% better than other traffic (Adobe, 2026).
How much shopping will AI do by 2030?
- Up to $1 trillion of US retail sales, and $3–5 trillion globally, could run through AI agents (McKinsey, 2025).
- 10–20% of US ecommerce (Morgan Stanley).
Common questions
How many people shop with AI?
ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly users, and over half of them researched or compared products on it in the past month. In the UK alone there are more than 1.9 million AI questions a month about some 420 everyday product terms.
Does my store show up in AI answers?
In our audits, the typical retailer appeared in 15% of the answers in its own category, and 3 in 4 saw a competitor recommended more often. The free audit tells you where you stand within a couple of hours.
How did you measure these numbers?
For the audits, we asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews the buying questions in each category, from each store's market, and counted how many answers named it. Question volume is a DataForSEO estimate for specific product terms, so it's a floor, not the whole category.
Can I use these statistics?
Yes, credit Semantico and link to this page. For third-party figures, cite the original source.
