The State of AI Visibility in Ecommerce: October 2026

The headline: most brands are close to invisible

Across 66 lists and 2,541 brands, 1,845 brands (72.6%) appear in fewer than 5% of the AI answers for their category. 956 (37.6%) appear in fewer than 1%. 219 (8.6%) were never named once.

The median brand shows up in 1.9% of answers. The average category leader shows up in 26.6%. That gap, about 14 times, is the distance between being on the AI shortlist and being absent from it.

AI picks a short list

When a shopper asks an AI assistant which brand to buy, it names a handful and stops. Across the lists, the top 3 brands take 37.7% of every brand mention in their category.

Concentration varies a lot by category. The top 3 take over half of all mentions in UK swimwear (54.8%), Australian fragrance and perfume (53.9%) and US luggage (50.3%). Fashion is the most open. The top 3 take 23.6% in US womenswear, 25.6% in US menswear and 26.1% in US beauty.

Being well known does not guarantee being named

Brand size helps, but it does not decide the answer. Some of the best-known names in ecommerce sit low on their lists:

• Glossier appears in 2.7% of US beauty answers and ranks 41st of 66 brands.
• Casper appears in 2.2% of US homewares and bedding answers, 16th of 39.
• Charlotte Tilbury ranks 5th in UK beauty at 9.4% but 33rd in US beauty at 2.9%.
• Bellroy ranks 3rd in Australian handbags and accessories at 18.5% but 17th in US luggage at 1.4%.
• Gymshark leads UK activewear at 47.4% and ranks 7th in the US at 16.9%.

The same brand can be the default answer in one market and missing in the next. The likely reason is coverage. AI answers draw on what is written about a brand in each market, from local reviews and retailer listings to editorial roundups and the brand's own product pages. A strong brand with thin coverage in one market gets left out there.

The platforms disagree

ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews do not agree on who leads. In 35 of 56 categories, the three platforms name a different #1 brand. In four categories, each platform has its own leader.

Of the brands that get named at all, 14% (260 of 1,863) appear on only one platform. A brand that checks ChatGPT and finds itself named can still be absent from Google AI Overviews.

Google AI Overviews names brands least often. It is the lowest of the three platforms in 44 of 56 categories. On average ChatGPT names a brand in 5.4% of answers, Perplexity in 5.1% and AI Overviews in 4.3%.

Rankings move every week

The top 10 brands in each list swing an average of 4.2 points between their best and worst weekly scan. A brand that checks its AI visibility once and sees a good result may have caught a good week. Visibility needs tracking over several scans before it means anything.

By market

The average category leader scores 28.9% in Australia, 26.6% in the UK and 25.4% in the US. US categories are slightly more spread out: the top 3 take 35.8% of mentions, against 38.9% in Australia and 39.1% in the UK.

Every list

Each list ranks the brands in one category and market by AI visibility, with weekly changes and the recorded answers behind each score.

United States

• 4x4 & Auto Electrical: REDARC leads at 24.3% (40 brands)
• Activewear: Lululemon leads at 46.8% (32 brands)
• Baby & Kids: Burt's Bees Baby leads at 18.1% (36 brands)
• Beauty: CeraVe leads at 34.0% (66 brands)
• Coffee: Stumptown Coffee Roasters leads at 23.2% (41 brands)
• Eyewear & Sunglasses: Warby Parker leads at 28.0% (37 brands)
• Footwear: Red Wing Shoes leads at 18.2% (44 brands)
• Fragrance & Perfume: Le Labo leads at 15.4% (45 brands)
• Furniture: Room & Board leads at 20.7% (39 brands)
• Haircare: Olaplex leads at 23.0% (41 brands)
• Handbags & Accessories: Coach leads at 27.7% (42 brands)
• Home Fitness Equipment: REP Fitness leads at 29.3% (45 brands)
• Homewares & Bedding: Quince leads at 19.4% (39 brands)
• Luggage & Travel Gear: Travelpro leads at 46.8% (31 brands)
• Menswear: J.Crew leads at 26.0% (38 brands)
• Outdoor & Adventure: Patagonia leads at 26.5% (41 brands)
• Pet: West Paw leads at 9.2% (43 brands)
• Supplements: Thorne leads at 29.2% (44 brands)
• Swimwear: Summersalt leads at 27.2% (40 brands)
• Toys & Games: Melissa & Doug leads at 25.6% (43 brands)
• Wine & Spirits: St. George Spirits leads at 12.2% (43 brands)
• Womenswear: Quince leads at 27.1% (36 brands)

United Kingdom

• 4x4 & Auto Electrical: Victron Energy leads at 17.4% (33 brands)
• Activewear: Gymshark leads at 47.4% (32 brands)
• Baby & Kids: Mamas & Papas leads at 16.9% (40 brands)
• Beauty: Medik8 leads at 15.6% (34 brands)
• Coffee: Origin Coffee leads at 26.4% (35 brands)
• Eyewear & Sunglasses: Cubitts leads at 17.8% (36 brands)
• Footwear: Clarks leads at 21.0% (39 brands)
• Fragrance & Perfume: Jo Malone London leads at 33.6% (40 brands)
• Furniture: Habitat leads at 23.0% (37 brands)
• Haircare: Philip Kingsley leads at 15.2% (34 brands)
• Handbags & Accessories: Mulberry leads at 25.0% (37 brands)
• Home Fitness Equipment: Mirafit leads at 31.0% (35 brands)
• Homewares & Bedding: The White Company leads at 27.1% (39 brands)
• Luggage & Travel Gear: Antler leads at 45.1% (37 brands)
• Menswear: Marks & Spencer leads at 40.4% (36 brands)
• Outdoor & Adventure: Rab leads at 29.8% (38 brands)
• Pet: Lily's Kitchen leads at 19.3% (49 brands)
• Supplements: Myprotein leads at 33.1% (43 brands)
• Swimwear: Hunza G leads at 25.5% (35 brands)
• Toys & Games: Orchard Toys leads at 13.2% (36 brands)
• Wine & Spirits: Chapel Down leads at 17.2% (45 brands)
• Womenswear: Marks & Spencer leads at 43.8% (37 brands)

Australia

• 4x4 & Auto Electrical: REDARC Electronics leads at 42.5% (19 brands)
• Activewear: Lorna Jane leads at 36.6% (44 brands)
• Baby & Kids: Purebaby leads at 30.0% (39 brands)
• Beauty: Ultra Violette leads at 17.8% (51 brands)
• Coffee: Campos leads at 16.4% (36 brands)
• Eyewear & Sunglasses: Le Specs leads at 28.1% (39 brands)
• Footwear: R.M. Williams leads at 26.0% (36 brands)
• Fragrance & Perfume: Goldfield & Banks leads at 34.0% (36 brands)
• Furniture: Temple & Webster leads at 27.4% (38 brands)
• Haircare: ELEVEN Australia leads at 21.4% (31 brands)
• Handbags & Accessories: Oroton leads at 31.9% (34 brands)
• Home Fitness Equipment: VERVE Fitness leads at 20.4% (37 brands)
• Homewares & Bedding: Sheridan leads at 22.2% (39 brands)
• Luggage & Travel Gear: Samsonite leads at 47.3% (31 brands)
• Menswear: Uniqlo leads at 28.0% (33 brands)
• Outdoor & Adventure: Sea to Summit leads at 29.8% (41 brands)
• Pet: Black Hawk leads at 26.0% (33 brands)
• Supplements: Bulk Nutrients leads at 34.0% (54 brands)
• Swimwear: Seafolly leads at 42.4% (37 brands)
• Toys & Games: Connetix Tiles leads at 20.6% (31 brands)
• Wine & Spirits: Archie Rose Distilling Co leads at 22.9% (32 brands)
• Womenswear: Country Road leads at 22.0% (37 brands)

Methodology

Each list tracks 19 to 66 brands in one category and market. Every week, Found asks ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the same 150 shopping questions for that category and records every answer. A brand's AI visibility is the share of collected answers that name it: answers naming the brand divided by all answers collected, times 100.

A mention can be a recommendation, a comparison or a qualification. Visibility does not measure sales or product quality. This study uses the latest published scan window for each list, 16 to 25 October 2026, and the platform figures use the latest scan for the 56 lists in the current scan series. Full detail is on the methodology page.

Cite this study

Found by Flux, The State of AI Visibility in Ecommerce, October 2026. flux.agency/insights/state-of-ai-visibility-ecommerce. Brand-level data is on each Found list. For press and data requests, contact the Found team.