Live database

GEO for E-commerce

How AI engines choose and recommend e-commerce brands today.

We run real buyer prompts against ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity with web search on, and record which e-commerce brands they name and which sources they cite. This page is one live view into that dataset - it updates as new probes land.

Run your free AI visibility scanHow we collect this data
Updated Jul 18, 202626 prompts analyzed116 citations77 brands detected
Top cited domain
tomsguide.com
16 citations · 14% of all
Most active engine
ChatGPT
97% of citations
Top source type
News / PR
45% of citations
Data as of
July 18, 2026
trends unlock after two cycles
1

What buyers ask AI

Real questions people put to AI assistants about e-commerce brands.

Best online mattress brandSustainable clothing brandsBest online furniture storeDirect-to-consumer coffee brandsWhere to buy running shoes onlineBest skincare brands for sensitive skinBest budget home gym equipmentTrusted online electronics storeBest meal kit deliveryGift ideas under $50
2

What AI actually recommends

Probed from a United States context · July 18, 2026

Live answers per engine - exactly what each one named, in order.

PromptChatGPTGeminiPerplexity
Best online mattress brand
  1. Saatva Classic
  2. Helix Midnight Luxe
  3. Nectar Classic Memory Foam Mattress
  1. Saatva
  2. Tempur-Pedic
  3. Casper
  1. Saatva
  2. Helix Sleep
  3. Brooklyn Bedding
Best sustainable clothing brands-
  1. Patagonia
  2. Eileen Fisher
  3. Outerknown
  1. Patagonia
  2. Happy Earth Apparel
  3. Harvest & Mill
Best online furniture store
  1. Wayfair
  2. IKEA
  3. Crate & Barrel
  1. Wayfair
  2. West Elm
  3. CB2
  1. Article
  2. West Elm
  3. Floyd
Best direct-to-consumer coffee brands
  1. Amora Coffee
  2. Trade Coffee
  3. Roy Coffee Co.
  1. Counter Culture Coffee
  2. Blue Bottle Coffee
  3. Trade Coffee Co.
  1. Blue Bottle Coffee
  2. Intelligentsia Coffee
  3. Counter Culture Coffee
Best online store for running shoes
  1. Road Runner Sports
  2. Fleet Feet
  3. Running Warehouse
  1. Zappos
  2. Running Warehouse
  3. Amazon
  1. Nike
  2. Adidas
  3. Running Warehouse
3

AI ranking factors

Where these engines actually look before naming anyone - citation share by source type.

News / PR45% · 52
Other40% · 46
Wikipedia10% · 12
Reviews5% · 6

Shares are computed from the sources engines actually grounded on in our shopping probes - not an editorial guess. Unknown domains land in “other” and get reviewed monthly.

The United States sources that matter for e-commerce brands

Trustpilottrustpilot.com
The most-cited store-trust layer; aggregate scores get quoted in answers.
Redditreddit.com
Purchase-intent threads (r/BuyItForLife, category subs) are prime Perplexity citations.
Wirecutternytimes.com
Archetype of the testing publications engines prefer over affiliate roundups.
YouTubeyoutube.com
Video reviews increasingly cited and summarized for product prompts.
Better Business Bureaubbb.org
Legitimacy check engines lean on for “is this store trustworthy” intent.
Google Merchant Centergoogle.com
Feed infrastructure - structured product data that AI shopping surfaces consume.
4

Engine comparison

How differently each engine sources its answers - share of that engine's citations per source type.

SourceChatGPTPerplexity
News / PR★★★★★★★★★★
Wikipedia★★★★★★★★★★
Reviews★★★★★★★★★★

Stars are banded from real citation shares in this vertical - hover any cell for the exact number.

5

How e-commerce brands win AI visibility

What the data above means in practice - and the playbook that follows from it.

E-commerce is where AI answers most directly replace revenue-bearing clicks: a shopper who asks ChatGPT for “the best online mattress brand” gets a finished shortlist, and brands outside it never see the visit. The evidence engines assemble that shortlist from is broader than any other vertical we track - editorial reviews (Wirecutter-style testing sites), aggregated customer sentiment (Trustpilot, BBB), community threads (Reddit’s “what do you actually use” genre), YouTube reviews, and increasingly the engines’ own shopping infrastructure fed by product feeds. Winning here means being present across evidence types, because different engines weight them very differently.

The product-feed layer is the newest and least understood lever. ChatGPT’s shopping surfaces pull structured product data - titles, prices, availability, review counts - and brands with clean feeds and Product schema get rendered as actual product cards, not just text mentions. This is mechanical work most DTC brands haven’t done for AI: consistent GTINs, complete Merchant Center feeds, Product/Offer/AggregateRating markup on every PDP. When the answer format is a shopping shelf, structured data is not an SEO nicety - it is the ticket to existing at all.

01

Ship clean product feeds + schema

Complete Merchant Center feeds, consistent GTINs, Product/Offer/AggregateRating markup on every product page - the entry ticket to AI shopping surfaces.

02

Build review-platform trust

Trustpilot and BBB profiles active and responded-to. Engines cite aggregate ratings and quote recurring themes from review text.

03

Earn community proof

Be genuinely present where your category is discussed on Reddit. One organic high-vote recommendation compounds for years in AI answers.

04

Target testers, not compilers

Pitch publications that actually test products (methodology, photos, updates). Engines increasingly cite demonstrable testing over affiliate roundups.

05

Publish answer-shaped category content

Buying guides that honestly answer “best X for Y” - including competitors - make your domain part of the material engines summarize.

06

Track your product prompts

Run your category prompts monthly per engine, note which stores get named and which sources earned it, and close the gaps.

Optimize for the shopping shelf
ChatGPT renders product cards from structured feed data. Titles that lead with what the product is, real availability and visible review counts decide whether your card appears - see our guide on how ChatGPT picks products.
Make your brand name resolvable
Inconsistent naming (storefront vs legal name vs Amazon listing) splits your entity across sources. One canonical brand string everywhere lets engines merge your reviews, threads and feed into one confident recommendation.
Win a niche qualifier
“Best mattress” is a bloodbath; “best mattress for side sleepers under $1000” is winnable. Build the PDP copy, guide content and review evidence for specific qualifiers buyers actually ask.
Mind the country dimension
Shopping answers localize hard - shipping, currency and availability change the shortlist per country. Check each market you sell into separately; the selector above will grow as we publish more countries.
6

FAQ

Answers to common questions about this report.

What is GEO for e-commerce?
Generative Engine Optimization for online stores: making sure that when a shopper asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity what to buy, your store or product is one of the names - with the right price, availability and reputation attached.
Can ChatGPT really recommend my products?
Yes. With web search and shopping surfaces, ChatGPT names specific brands and renders product cards from structured feed data. Whether yours appear depends on feeds, schema, reviews and third-party evidence - the exact factors this page tracks.
Which sources do AI engines cite for shopping?
In our probes: product-testing publications, Reddit purchase threads, review platforms like Trustpilot, and YouTube reviews - see the live source mix above for the current split in this vertical.
How is this data collected?
We run real shopper prompts against ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity with web search on, per country, and record which brands each engine names and which sources it cites - no editorial reordering.
How can my store get started?
Run a free AI visibility scan with your store’s name or website. In about two minutes you’ll see where you appear across engines for your category, and what to fix first. No credit card required.

See where your store appears across all AI engines.

The data above is the industry view. Run a free scan to get the same report for your store: where you show up, who outranks you, and what to fix first.

Run my free scanHow to track your brand in AI
Zene dashboard: a brand's AI visibility score, the next automatic scan, and per-engine cards for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity