A new kind of shopper is buying online, and they may already be shopping at your store.

AI assistants are reshaping how shoppers discover, compare, and purchase products. After all, half of all consumers now use AI when searching the internet , including when they’re researching what to buy and making comparisons.

That’s where brands can benefit from this spike in AI-driven product discovery. AI-referred traffic from assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini to retail sites grew 393% year-over-year in Q1 2026 — and it’s not just growing; it’s converting. This traffic already outperforms non-AI traffic (a bucket that includes paid search and email) by 42%. That’s a full reversal from just a year earlier, when it converted 38% worse than everything else .

That’s a strong signal of a major opportunity for brands. But few storefronts are built for AI to find, let alone recommend.

Why AI agents aren’t discovering your products

The short answer: your store and your products aren’t simple for AI assistants to find.…