Do shoppers use ChatGPT to find products?

By Kamil Kępiński, founder of EntityRise

Nearly 61 million US consumers start product research in AI assistants, yet 20 of 25 stores studied were missing. What online stores can check.

Yes, and in large numbers. PYMNTS Intelligence found that nearly 61 million US consumers now begin their online retail research with AI assistants, and CivicScience found 61% of AI shoppers researching on a platform and then buying elsewhere. For an online store, the practical question is no longer whether shoppers ask ChatGPT, but whether ChatGPT names the store when they do.

How many shoppers start product research in an AI assistant?

The numbers from several large surveys point the same way.

PYMNTS Intelligence found that nearly 61 million US consumers now begin their online retail research with AI assistants, based on an August survey of 2,191 American adults. Omnisend found that 63% of Americans used generative AI for shopping-related tasks in the past six months, and that ChatGPT leads that shopping use.

The pattern is not limited to the United States. NielsenIQ found that 55% of global consumers report some level of AI influence on product discovery in consumer goods, in a survey of more than 21,000 consumers across 31 countries. Clearpay found that 46% of UK consumers have already used AI tools to research products or compare shopping options, rising to 59% among Millennials.

Do shoppers buy where they research?

Most of them do not, and that changes how a store should read its own numbers.

CivicScience found 61% of AI shoppers researching on a platform and then buying elsewhere. In practice, a shopper asks an assistant which running shoes suit flat feet, reads three names, and later types one of those names into a search bar or goes straight to a marketplace.

The assistant shaped the choice, but the store's analytics may show a search for the store's name or a direct visit instead. If your store was not among the three names, nothing in your reports shows the sale you never had a chance to win.

How often are stores missing from AI answers?

In one recent test, most brands were not named when the shopper described a need instead of a brand.

Digital Commerce tested 25 direct to consumer and e-commerce brands in 14 categories across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity. Digital Commerce found that 80% of them, 20 of the 25, were invisible at the problem-aware stage, when the shopper describes a problem without naming any brand.

The same study found a stranger result. For 12% of the brands Digital Commerce tested, 3 of the 25, the brand's own content was cited as a source while a competitor was recommended instead. Digital Commerce calls these ghost rankings: the assistant read the store's page and still sent the shopper somewhere else.

That is the core risk for a store. In the Digital Commerce test, being cited as a source did not always mean being recommended, and the only way to know which case applies to you is to look at the answers themselves.

How can a store check what ChatGPT says about it?

You can run a first check yourself in one sitting, as long as you keep the method fixed.

1. Step 1Write the questions your shoppers ask. Use their words, for example "best waterproof hiking backpack for long trips" or "gift for a coffee lover who has everything". Keep most of them free of your brand name.
2. Step 2Freeze the list. Save the questions before you start, so a later check compares the same thing.
3. Step 3Ask every question in several assistants. Use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity, with a fresh conversation for each question.
4. Step 4Record five things per answer. Is your store named, is it recommended, how high does it appear, is a source cited, and is the description of your products correct.
5. Step 5Record the same for your two or three closest competitors. Your result only means something next to theirs.
6. Step 6Mark the ghost rankings. Note every answer that cites your own page while it recommends someone else, because those are the clearest gaps to study first.

What should a store look at first?

Start with the answers where the gap is clearest, then work outward.

1. Step 1Answers that cite you but recommend a competitor. The assistant already uses your page as a source, so compare what your page says with what the competitor's page says for the same need.
2. Step 2Wrong facts about your products. Outdated prices, discontinued items or a wrong category in an answer should be corrected at the source pages the assistant cites.
3. Step 3Needs where no store in your category is named. These questions are open, and clear product pages that answer the exact need are where to start.
4. Step 4Assistants that never name you. Each assistant can answer differently, so a store can be visible in one and missing in another.

Keep the same question list for every later check. With the same questions each time, you can see whether the answers changed after your work.

How does EntityRise measure this for a store?

EntityRise is an AI visibility audit for agencies and companies that shows how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity describe and recommend a company and what to improve first.

Each audit uses up to 40 buyer questions across five AI assistants: 15 high-priority questions go to all five and up to 25 more to one each, for up to 100 answers kept with their sources. Before anything is measured, the business profile, the buyer topics and the question set are confirmed and then locked. The AI Visibility Index weighs recommendation at 30%, mention at 20%, prominence at 20%, citation support at 15% and description accuracy at 15%.

The result is a PDF report of around 40 pages with the visibility analysis assistant by assistant, the competitor comparison and the ordered list of what to improve. You can start the audit yourself, and agencies can run it for their e-commerce clients under their own name. EntityRise measures and guides; the improvements happen on your own pages and in your own marketing work.

Common questions

Do people really use ChatGPT to shop?

Yes. PYMNTS Intelligence found that nearly 61 million US consumers begin their online retail research with AI assistants, and Omnisend found that 63% of Americans used generative AI for shopping-related tasks in the past six months.

How do I get my products recommended by ChatGPT?

Start by measuring which shopper questions name you, which name a competitor and which name nobody. Then improve the pages behind the clearest gaps and check the same frozen question list again. The same fixed check, run again later, shows whether the answers move.

Why does ChatGPT cite my page but recommend a competitor?

Digital Commerce calls this a ghost ranking and found it for 3 of the 25 brands it tested. The assistant used the store's page as a source but named another brand for the shopper's need, so the comparison between the two pages is the place to look.

Will I see AI shoppers in my analytics?

Often not directly. CivicScience found 61% of AI shoppers researching on a platform and then buying elsewhere, so the visit that follows may look like a search for your store's name or a direct visit.

Which AI assistants should a store check?

Check the assistants your shoppers use: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity. Each one can answer the same question with different names, so one result never stands for all of them.

Sources

1. PYMNTS Intelligence, From Prompt to Purchase: Who Wins the AI Shopper?
2. Omnisend, AI shopping report
3. NielsenIQ, Consumer Outlook: Guide to 2027
4. Clearpay, The New Rules of Checkout
5. CivicScience, Agentic Retail Report
6. Digital Commerce, Ghost Rankings: Cited by AI, Replaced by a Competitor

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About the author. Kamil Kępiński is the founder of Smophy Labs Inc., the company behind SmophyAI and EntityRise. Follow Kamil on X and LinkedIn.

About EntityRise. EntityRise, by Smophy Labs Inc., is the AI visibility audit for agencies and companies. Each audit asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity up to 40 buyer questions and delivers a report of around 40 pages: where the company is named, where a competitor is named instead, the concrete problems and a prioritized plan of what to improve. Companies run one audit for $49; agencies run client audits from discounted packs and deliver them under their own name and logo. Run your AI Visibility Audit.