ChatGPT and Google’s AI shopping answers favor major retailers, including when they find smaller stores on the web, according to research by Vaer AI commissioned by commerce software company Lightspeed.
The study analyzed roughly 460,000 responses. With live search enabled, large chains took 46% to 58% of the top recommendations across the tested platforms. Smaller stores were more competitive among the linked sources, where large and small retailers each accounted for roughly 38%.
A citation can leave a shop behind the recommended chain
Vaer’s published example shows ChatGPT citing three small stationery shops among six sources while recommending Staples first. Across the study, large chains became the lead recommendation about 2.5 times as often as small stores.
That is a useful distinction for retailers buying AI visibility reports. A tool counting citations can record exposure even when the answer directs the shopper toward a competitor. Retail teams need to know which outcome a reported improvement measures before assigning it commercial value.
The headline figures cover different tests
The widely reported 90% to 94% preference for bigger retailers came from head-to-head tests with web search switched off. The live-search findings cover a different condition, closer to how shoppers use AI search.
Lightspeed’s methodology summary describes 20,000 prompts spanning ten categories in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Montreal. Analysis ran from June to August 2026. The headline results should be read within that geographic and testing scope.
Asking for independent stores changed the results
A follow-up found that adding “independent” to shopping prompts increased the small and local shops named from roughly one-third to nearly four-fifths. Asking for “local” had a weaker effect, since a nearby branch of a chain could satisfy that request.
The study’s full technical report is available on request. Lightspeed sells retail software and is using the findings in an AI visibility campaign. Neither public summary reports purchases generated by the recommendations.
SEW previously covered John Lewis’s investment in product videos aimed at AI discovery, an example of the resources a large retailer can put into this channel.
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