Last 12 months, tens of millions of customers used AI to browse style on-line. In 2026, they’ll take a look at with it, too.
In 2025, an increasing number of consumers fed AI-based search engines like google prompts — suppose “find me the perfect summer dress for a sweltering wedding in the Hamptons in July” — to unravel wardrobe conundrums. During the previous vacation season, site visitors to retail websites from sources like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity elevated by almost 700 p.c 12 months on 12 months, in accordance with Adobe Analytics.
“It’s very clear that a lot of people already click on links inside of ChatGPT, and when they click on those things, they end up buying something,” stated Juozas Kaziukenas, an unbiased e-commerce analyst. “It’s already a source of influence on shopping decisions, and there is no indication that that is, in any way, slowing down.”
Now, customers will be capable of immediately purchase in the identical place they’re more and more going to search out the perfect merchandise on the proper costs. Brands like Glossier, Skims and Spanx already supply direct checkout on ChatGPT; OpenAI can also be working with Shopify to combine 1 million of its model companions’ checkouts into the platform, too. It’s not simply ChatGPT: Microsoft on Jan. 8 introduced a direct checkout characteristic in its AI search engine, Copilot, whereas Shopify stated this month that it could permit its model companions to promote immediately in Google’s Gemini.
Industry insiders count on direct checkout to essentially change how manufacturers and retailers discover and join with customers. Even although ChatGPT takes a 4 p.c lower of gross sales (Microsoft and Google don’t cost any transaction charges), in accordance with Shopify, the publicity it offers in addition to the chance it can result in a purchase order — through the vacation season, AI sources led to 31 p.c larger conversions than different sources of site visitors, in accordance with Adobe Analytics — is price it.
Put merely, retailers danger shedding out on new prospects in the event that they aren’t as current as doable in these environments.
“It’s going to be the biggest change in e-commerce since mobile phones,” stated Sean Frank, chief govt of males’s equipment model Ridge, which plans to combine its checkout into ChatGPT as soon as the characteristic is made obtainable for his Shopify-operated web site. “People will just check out everywhere.”
Brands are ensuring they’re prepared, enhancing their very own web site’s content material and product descriptions with the intention to enhance discovery in AI-generated search outcomes. They’re additionally creating their very own AI-powered search features as customers develop accustomed to writing detailed prompts and receiving personalised solutions.
“2026 is the year where brands start to rebalance and think about where the future is going and how much to invest,” stated Katherine Black, companion at world consulting agency Kearney. “It’ll be a year of experimentation.”
How Brands Get Discovered within the Age of AI
When utilizing ChatGPT to seek for merchandise, customers are extra inclined to explain outfit concepts than search for a selected model. That impacts how manufacturers ought to optimise their content material to look extra extremely in outcomes.
“People are not coming in with ‘show me the red Lemaire jacket.’ They’re actually asking for ‘I need a cool jacket that’ll make me look chic,’” stated Lisa Yamner, the corporate’s co-founder and chief manufacturers officer at Daydream, an AI style search platform that launched in beta final June. She stated that round 95 p.c of Daydream searches don’t embrace model names. “This is a very different way to start that search than we’ve seen in the past.”
Brands have gamed Google by buying key search phrases — normally their very own model title in addition to their rivals’ — to rank extremely. But ChatGPT doesn’t but promote adverts or key phrases, and since AI-based search platforms scrape the net to floor their outcomes, manufacturers should guarantee their websites are simple to learn.
One step is offering extra in-depth product descriptions. In follow, that appears like saying an merchandise is ideal for mountaineering and heavy rain as a substitute of merely labeling it as waterproof, stated Caila Schwartz, director of shopper insights and technique at Salesforce.
In the previous 12 months, Ridge has modified the drop-down menu on its web site to classify its wallets primarily based on the forms of searches individuals will make in ChatGPT, together with a class of sports activities pockets — gadgets emblazoned with the logos of American soccer and baseball groups — meant to point out up in a queries requesting a listing of NFL or MLB-branded wallets, Frank stated.
Brands additionally must ramp up content material on their web site that explains how their merchandise can be utilized, which additionally impacts how usually they present up in an AI-powered search, Kearney’s Black stated. Ridge, for one, has a question-and-answer-style weblog on its web site with in-depth queries like “does Ridge Wallet make a good gift for men” to imitate the form of searches individuals make on ChatGPT, Frank stated.
An additional advantage is that extra detailed product descriptions additionally make it simpler for consumers to search out what they need when purchasing immediately from a model.
“The consumer’s willing to splurge for a higher quality product,” Schwartz added. “It’s … making sure that your brand voice and your product, quality, purpose and use case is so clearly demonstrated.”
The Future of AI-Powered E-Commerce
The rise of AI-based search as a product discovery device can also be pushing manufacturers and retailers to launch their very own AI brokers that may reply to comparable prompts on their websites. Salesforce discovered that retailers with such software program capabilities grew their on-line gross sales through the previous vacation season about 59 p.c sooner than people who didn’t.
AI search features are particularly useful for manufacturers that promote high-consideration classes like nice jewelry, as a result of consumers normally have in-depth questions that aren’t usually addressed in a easy product description. Last April, The Clear Cut, which creates customized pure diamond rings, launched its personal AI agent referred to as Eunice that tracks interactions between purchasers and human gemologists to assist the latter enhance their communication and shut extra gross sales. The Clear Cut noticed its gross sales bounce 20 p.c 12 months on 12 months in 2025, and its common order worth reached its highest within the firm’s eight-year historical past, stated Olivia Landau, the model’s co-founder and chief govt.
But creating in-house AI search instruments will be troublesome, notably for retailers with large product catalogues. Online luxurious retailer Garmentory, which sells stock from unbiased boutiques, was planning to launch an AI-powered search engine final fall, however pushed the launch to this coming March as the corporate retrains its software program to generate correct outcomes extra rapidly, stated Sunil Gowda, Garmentory’s founder and chief govt.
“If you want more accuracy, then you’re trading off response times,” Gowda stated. “We’re trying to find the right balance there.”
Whether it’s pushed by tech firms or the retailers themselves, customers’ utilizing AI to buy is for certain to proceed radically altering on-line and offline retail.
“This is the beginning,” stated Victor Tam, co-founder and chief govt of bags model Monos, which is working with Shopify to supply direct checkout in Google’s Gemini. “It does feel like it’s integrated with everyone’s lives now. The behavioral search has shifted and we want to make sure we’re there.”