Ask for the best product and ChatGPT links to a retailer or shows shopping cards in 45.9% of its answers, sixteen times Gemini's 2.8%. On everyday questions, Perplexity is the engine most likely to send you to a store, and on product questions Amazon is the store it links to most.
Analysis of AI answers to 4,984 questions · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.ChatGPT links to a retailer or shows shopping product cards in 45.9% of its answers to "best product" questions, the highest of five AI engines and sixteen times Gemini's 2.8%.
- 2.Perplexity links to a retailer in 9.8% of its answers to everyday questions, more than twice the rate of any other AI engine.
- 3.17.4% of Perplexity's answers to "best product" questions link to Amazon, more than three times the next store, Chewy, at 5%.
- 4.Google AI Overviews links to Amazon in 11.8% of its answers to "best product" questions, four times its rate for Best Buy (3%).
- 5.Gemini links to a retailer in 2.8% of its answers to "best product" questions and 0.8% of its answers to everyday questions, the lowest of five AI engines on both.
Summary
A shopper asks an AI engine for the best robot vacuum. On ChatGPT, nearly half the time the answer comes with a row of product cards and a store to buy from. On Gemini, the same kind of question almost never ends with a link to a store. Which engine a shopper uses decides whether the answer is a recommendation or a shopping trip.
For retailers and brands, that difference is the path to a sale. A link or product card in an AI answer is a direct route from a buying question to a checkout page, and each engine builds that route in its own way: ChatGPT with its own product cards, Perplexity and Google with links to retailer pages, where Amazon dominates.
On "best product" questions, ChatGPT links to a store or shows product cards in 45.9% of its answers, followed by Perplexity at 30.9%, Google AI Overviews at 20.3%, Google AI Mode at 12% and Gemini at 2.8%. On everyday questions the order changes, and Perplexity leads at 9.8%.
What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we asked five AI engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews (the AI summary that appears above Google's search results), two sets of questions from a US location: 2,984 general, everyday questions on topics from health to travel, and 2,000 "best product" questions such as "best air fryer". For every answer we recorded the sources it linked to.
An answer counts as linking to a store when at least one linked source is one of about 100 major US retailers, such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and The Home Depot. For ChatGPT, an answer also counts when it shows shopping product cards, the boxes with a product, price and store that ChatGPT displays inside its answers. A brand's own online store, such as apple.com, does not count as a retailer. Each rate is a share of answers.
ChatGPT is the most commercial AI on product questions
ChatGPT's built-in product cards make it the most commercial engine when someone is shopping. Nearly half its answers to "best product" questions send the reader toward a store, ahead of Perplexity at 30.9% and Google AI Overviews at 20.3%. Google AI Mode sits at 12%, and Gemini at 2.8%, sixteen times lower than ChatGPT.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of AI answers to 4,984 questions · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
| AI engine | Everyday questions | "Best product" questions |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 3.8% | 45.9% |
| Perplexity | 9.8% | 30.9% |
| Google AI Overviews | 4.2% | 20.3% |
| Google AI Mode | 3.6% | 12% |
| Gemini | 0.8% | 2.8% |
The jump from everyday to product questions shows how sharply ChatGPT switches modes. On general questions it links to a store in 3.8% of answers, below Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Ask it what to buy and the rate rises twelvefold. Gemini barely moves: it rarely links to a store whatever the question.
Perplexity links to stores most on everyday questions
On everyday questions, Perplexity is the engine most likely to send a reader to a store. 9.8% of its answers link to a retailer, more than twice Google AI Overviews (4.2%), ChatGPT (3.8%) and Google AI Mode (3.6%).
Two retailers lead those everyday links. Perplexity links to Amazon in 4.1% of its answers to general questions and to The Home Depot in 1.5%. For a retailer, that means product pages can be cited in answers to questions that never mention buying anything.
Amazon is the store AI engines link to most
On "best product" questions, Amazon is the most-linked retailer by far. It appears in 17.4% of Perplexity's product answers and 11.8% of Google AI Overviews' product answers, and in 5.2% of product answers across all five engines, nearly three times the next retailer, Best Buy, at 1.8%.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of AI answers to 4,984 questions · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
On Google AI Overviews, Best Buy follows Amazon at 3%, then Target (1.7%), Chewy (1.2%) and Ulta Beauty (1%). Across all engines' linked sources, Best Buy, Chewy and Target follow Amazon. ChatGPT's product cards tell a different story: they point to Walmart, Best Buy and Target rather than Amazon, so counting the cards moves Walmart into the top two stores AI engines send shoppers to.
What this means for retailers and brands
Match your effort to the engine. For ChatGPT, the product cards matter most: keep your product feed complete and make sure your products are listed, with accurate prices and stock, at the merchants its cards use, led by Walmart, Best Buy and Target. For Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, your Amazon listing is often the page that gets linked, so make it complete, accurate and well reviewed.
Specialist retailers carry weight in their categories. Chewy for pet products, Best Buy for electronics and The Home Depot for home and garden all appear among the most-linked stores, so a listing there can be the page an AI answer sends shoppers to.
If you sell only through your own store, the links in these answers went to large retailers and marketplaces, not brand sites. Getting your products onto the retailers AI engines cite is the most direct route into AI shopping traffic. Our ecommerce seo services show brands where AI engines send shoppers in their category and how to be there.
Embed this research
Paste this on your site to embed the charts. It links back to the source automatically.
<iframe id="sd-most-commercial-ai-engine" src="https://www.suffdigital.com/embed/data-studies/most-commercial-ai-engine" width="100%" height="600" style="width:100%;border:1px solid #E5E7EB;border-radius:12px" loading="lazy" title="ChatGPT Sends Shoppers to a Store in 46% of Product Questions vs 3% for Gemini - Suff Digital"></iframe>
<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.sdEmbed==="most-commercial-ai-engine"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("sd-most-commercial-ai-engine");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/most-commercial-ai-engine">ChatGPT Sends Shoppers to a Store in 46% of Product Questions vs 3% for Gemini - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). ChatGPT Sends Shoppers to a Store in 46% of Product Questions vs 3% for Gemini. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/most-commercial-ai-engine
ChatGPT Sends Shoppers to a Store in 46% of Product Questions vs 3% for Gemini - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/most-commercial-ai-engine
Frequently asked questions
Related studies
- AI SEONone of 7,048 ChatGPT Product Cards Send Shoppers to Amazon
- AI SEOChatGPT Links to Amazon in 0.1% of Shopping Answers vs 17.4% for Perplexity
- AI SEOAI Shopping Answers Link to Walmart More Than Amazon, 16.2% vs 11.8% of Retailer Links
- AI SEOThe Most Academic AI: Perplexity Cites Universities and Government Sites in 58% of Answers