Azoma, the Agentic Commerce Optimization platform that helps brands drive revenue through AI shopping agents like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Amazon Rufus and Walmart Sparky, sets out what brands should look for in answer engine optimization and AI visibility tools, as the shift to AI-driven product discovery accelerates. According to a July 2026 survey of 2,650 U.S. consumers by L.E.K. Consulting, 46% of AI users now begin their purchase research on a stand-alone AI platform such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Claude, up from 25% in 2024. Traditional search has fallen from 43% to 24% over the same period.
46% of AI users now start purchase research on AI platforms, up from 25% in 2024
Traditional search has fallen from 43% to 24% over the same period
Each AI agent cites differently: ChatGPT 41% earned media, Alexa 73% affiliate
Azoma holds patents in AI shopping visibility monitoring technology
Co-authored the 5 C's of Agentic Commerce measurement framework
Trusted by L'Oréal, Unilever, Mars, Beiersdorf, and Reckitt
For brands, the inversion raises an immediate question: if nearly half of shoppers are now starting on AI, how does my brand appear when they ask? AEO and AI visibility tracking are the disciplines built to answer it.
Answer engine optimization: the practice of improving how a brand shows up in AI-generated answers, covering product data, content, and the third-party sources agents cite.
AI visibility: how often, how accurately, and in what context a brand appears when AI shopping agents answer questions about its category.
Each agent cites differently according to Azoma analysis of millions of shopping agent citations from Q2 2026: ChatGPT 41% earned media / 37% retailer; Gemini 41% retailer / 37% earned media; Sparky 36% earned media / 30% brand.com; Alexa for Shopping 73% affiliate / 16% earned media.
Brands evaluating AEO platforms should start with a practical test: can this tool show me, prompt by prompt, where my brand appears and where it doesn't across ChatGPT, Gemini, Rufus, Alexa for Shopping and Sparky at the same time? Can it tell me which sources each agent drew on to make that recommendation? And can it help me fix what it finds, or does it stop at the report? Those three questions separate platforms that deliver from platforms that describe.
A brand running AI visibility checks on ChatGPT alone would see a very different picture from the same brand checking Gemini or Rufus. The agents don't agree with each other: the same product can be the top recommendation on one and missing from another, for the same question, asked the same way. Monitoring one agent tells a brand something. Monitoring all of them tells the brand what is actually happening.
Retailer-embedded agents like Amazon Rufus, Alexa for Shopping and Walmart Sparky cite a very different balance of sources from open-web chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini. An AEO platform that covers only one type of agent leaves the other uncovered. Azoma tracks and optimizes across both shopping assistants and chatbots from a single platform.
"What we see across the brands we work with is that the gap between agents is bigger than anyone expected. A product can be the top recommendation on ChatGPT and completely absent on Alexa for the same question. AEO closes those gaps. AI visibility tracking is what tells you where they are. The brands getting ahead are the ones doing both across every agent at once, rather than assuming one result applies everywhere." – Max Sinclair, Founder and CEO of Azoma
About Azoma
Azoma is the Agentic Commerce Optimisation platform that helps brands drive revenue through AI shopping agents like Alexa for Shopping, Walmart Sparky, ChatGPT and Gemini. Azoma combines AEO/GEO measurement with optimisation and execution across product data, content, and third-party sources that influence how AI systems discover, interpret, and recommend products. Trusted by leading consumer brands including L'Oréal, Unilever, Mars, Beiersdorf, and Reckitt, Azoma is the technology layer that helps brands increase product visibility, recommendations, and sales through AI-powered shopping experiences.
