In one sentence
An AI shopping assistant is a tool like ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity that shoppers ask what to buy, and the brands it names shape which stores they visit.
How AI shopping assistants choose which products to recommend
A shopper types a full question, like "best carry-on for a week of business travel." The assistant draws on what its model learned in training data, and often runs a grounded search to read pages live: product pages, review roundups, forum threads.
Then it writes one answer and names a short list of products. The brands it names are the ones it found clear, consistent information about.
AI shopping assistant vs. search engine: what changes for shoppers
Why AI shopping assistants matter for ecommerce brands
The comparing now happens before the click. If the assistant names three brands and yours isn't one of them, the shopper may never see your store, even if your product fits better.
This matters most when the question names no brand at all, an unbranded query. That is where new customers find you.
How to get your products recommended by AI shopping assistants
- List the questions shoppers ask right before they buy in your category. Each one is a shopper question.
- Ask each assistant those questions and note which brands it names.
- Publish pages that answer them directly: product pages with specs, fit and use cases, category pages that compare options, and FAQs in shoppers' words.
- Make your product data easy to read with product schema and a robots.txt that lets AI crawlers in.
- Check again every few weeks. Answers change from run to run.
AI shopping assistant FAQs
Which AI shopping assistants should my store care about?
Start with the general assistants shoppers use for product research: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Marketplaces also run their own assistants, like Amazon's Rufus, but those only recommend products sold on that marketplace.
Can shoppers buy directly inside an AI assistant?
Some assistants now let shoppers check out without leaving the chat. That shift is called agentic commerce. Either way, the assistant has to name your product first.
How do I see what AI shopping assistants say about my store?
Ask them the shopper questions your shoppers ask, then compare the answers across assistants. One check is a snapshot, not a verdict. Track the same questions over time to see your AI visibility.
Do AI shopping assistants recommend Shopify stores?
Yes. They recommend products from any store with pages they can read. On Shopify or BigCommerce, start with clear product pages, collection pages that compare options, product schema, and crawler access.
About the author
Jenn Starr, Co-founder, Selix
Jenn has spent 20+ years helping SaaS startups build their marketing and implementation playbooks. She has bootstrapped three marketing agencies and is a 500 Startups alum. At Selix, she leads the work of getting ecommerce brands named in AI answers.
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