Lightspeed Commerce CEO: Our Study Analyzed Half a Million AI Shopping Responses and Revealed Who Gets to Compete
The internet gave independent retailers a fighting chance. Is AI taking it away?
TL;DR
- AI search tools appear to favor larger retailers, giving them a significant edge in recommendations.
- Independent retailers, despite being found by AI, often receive lower-priority recommendations compared to big chains.
- Consumers indicate they would shop locally more often if AI facilitated discovering nearby independent businesses.
- Adding the word "independent" to AI shopping prompts dramatically increased recommendations for small and local retailers.
- The way consumers phrase AI search queries can influence the business recommendations provided.
- There's a risk that AI could default to recommending the largest businesses, limiting consumer choice and harming independent retailers.
- The goal for AI in retail should be to broaden discovery and offer more choices, not to narrow them down based on business size.