Brands race to crack the AI discovery code

EVERY TIME A shopper asks ChatGPT which running shoe to buy, Gemini to recommend a frozen meal, or Claude to suggest a skincare product, an invisible battle is playing out among brands.

- S SHANTHI

Unlike Google search, where dozens of results compete for attention, AI assistants typically recommend only a handful of products. For brands that fail to make that shortlist, it is the digital equivalent of disappearing from the shelf altogether.

That shift in consumer discovery is quietly creating an entirely new layer of commerce infrastructure. As conversational AI increasingly becomes the first stop for shopping decisions, companies are scrambling to figure out how to make their products surface inside ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI assistants. The challenge is spawning a new generation of startups that promise to do for AI what search engine optimisation (SEO) firms once did for Google: help brands become visible, trusted and recommended by large language models.

The urgency is not misplaced. According to industry estimates, ChatGPT already accounts for about 20% of Walmart's referral traffic, over 20% of Etsy's, nearly 15% of Target's and around 10% of eBay's. AI agents drove nearly $262 billion worth of global orders during the 2025 holiday season, while for many brands, ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Mode already contribute close to 10% of organic traffic.

INDIAN CONSUMER BRANDS are beginning to see a similar trend emerge and are moving early in the hope of securing an advantage before AI-led shopping becomes mainstream.