Are you old enough to remember when Google first launched its search engine in 1998? It seems wild to say but there are members of the workforce today who weren’t born and wouldn’t be for several years when Google first became synonymous with finding information.
It was a revolutionary event in the Internet era and shaped not only consumer behaviors but also how websites were constructed and operated for the next 20+ years. I bring this up because, yes, we’re talking about AI. More specifically, we’re talking about large language models (LLMs). Why?
Because LLMs have the potential to cause as big of a revolutionary event in the world of ecommerce as Google did when it launched its search engine. Not only that, but the rate of acceleration in terms of innovation and adoption is at a breakneck speed.
There are clear reasons why you should be paying attention to, and experimenting with, LLMs for ecommerce right now heading into 2026. But there are also cautions for not jumping all the way in quite yet. Let’s explore those.
The LLM Shopping Takeover
Product/brand discovery is the biggest reason for (and benefit to) consumers engaging with LLMs as part of their customer journey. It’s much more efficient to ask ChatGPT, Copilot, or your LLM of choice to recommend the best hiking boots for your upcoming trip to Zion National Park compared to visiting each major outdoor retailer’s site individually and comparing tabs.
The more time consumers spend on LLMs – and as of July, Axios reported that the number of daily messages sent by ChatGPT users exceeded 2.5 billion – the more it makes sense that they will use that avenue to find and research products. ChatGPT can give users five or six options with links directly to product pages, saving time and energy.
Now, OpenAI and the other LLM parent companies want to keep consumers with them for the entirety of the transaction. If the trajectory continues like it’s moving, LLMs could soon help consumers:
Find and compare products.
Complete transactions through a connection with the brand’s site and OMS.
Pay for the product with the AI tied to their bank account.
Ship products to their location of choice.
And the LLM will do it for a percentage cut of the transaction.
Why An Overhaul Isn’t Necessary Yet
Consumer behaviors don’t change overnight. Shopping habits, like other habits, are difficult to break. And we have nearly 30 years of digital shopping habits engrained in us. The likelihood that LLMs take over the search and transaction throne from Google in the next year is slim.
Case in point, a 2025 study from Sparktoro found that in 2024, consumers conducted 373x more searches on Google than ChatGPT. This is a massive hill to climb for LLMs, which is why it won’t happen tomorrow or in six months. Will LLMs eat into this ratio in the coming years? Almost certainly. But Google isn’t going away anytime soon.
The other caution with LLMs for the entirety of the ecommerce transaction is that we’re assuming people want to purchase items through the platform of chat. But we also know that consumers are sick of chatbots, especially in cases of customer service. LLMs may be more convenient for finding individual products quickly, but what about the consumers who want to read all of the product reviews, or add to cart and come back later? That’s not as simple in a chat interface.
Your Ecommerce AI Approach for 2026
A good rule of thumb in business is to be where your customers are. Which is why it’s worth experimenting with strategies like generative engine optimization (GEO) to show up where and how consumers are looking for you.
Before you get too far, you have to have the basics locked down.
Ensure your data is clean and centralized.
Optimize your product description pages.
Allow your platforms to communicate and operate in real time so that product availability and any changes are reflected wherever a consumer is viewing them.
If your tech stack and data are not aligned and working correctly, no AI features are going to make an impact. And instead you risk upsetting your customers by placing another layer on top of an unstable foundation.
But if you do want to get started folding AI into your ecommerce experience (which is a smart choice) we recommend beginning with your own site. How can you bring AI into your experience to make it more positive? It could be through personalized recommendations, guided shopping, or faster/more efficient marketing and merchandising campaigns.
AI is such a broad and yet-to-be-defined topic that it’s understandable if you like the idea of AI in theory but don’t know where to begin or what it looks like practically. That’s where we can help. Because any AI solution should fit your specific needs and objectives. And our team helps clients tailor technologies to their individual use cases on a daily basis. If you’re ready to dip your toe into the ecommerce AI pond, reach out.
