Retailers like Walmart, Ulta Beauty, and Wayfair are updating their websites to ensure their products rank highly in results from AI chatbots such as Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT. This new form of 'AI SEO' involves rethinking product descriptions to answer detailed, conversational questions, as consumers increasingly use these tools for shopping recommendations.
The primary goal is to leverage the growing AI-driven traffic, which shows higher revenue per visit, while ensuring customers complete purchases on the retailers' own sites. This strategy allows companies to collect valuable first-party data on browsing and purchasing habits, which is crucial for building customer loyalty and driving future sales. While some retailers like Ulta are working with Google to integrate loyalty programs into AI shopping experiences, the preference remains to keep the final transaction on their own domain to maintain the direct customer relationship.