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Test AI Commerce Before the Channel Gets Crowded
August 2026 · Jake Deschene
Every major shift in digital commerce has followed a familiar pattern.
The brands that learned early gained an advantage that became increasingly difficult for competitors to catch.
- Search.
- Social.
- Marketplaces.
- Retail media.
Each started as an experiment before becoming a line item in every marketing budget.
AI commerce feels like it's entering that same phase.
Consumers are increasingly asking ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and other AI assistants what products they should buy, which brands they should trust, and how products compare. These conversations are quietly becoming part of the buying journey.
The opportunity is obvious.
The measurement isn't.
Most Brands Don't Know How AI Sees Them
Ask most ecommerce brands a simple question:
"How often does AI recommend your products?"
Very few can answer.
Ask a harder one:
"When AI doesn't recommend your brand, who does it recommend instead?"
Almost no one knows.
That's because most brands are still measuring traditional channels while an entirely new discovery layer is emerging.
It's difficult to improve something you can't see.
Visibility Comes Before Advertising
One of the biggest misconceptions we're seeing is that brands should immediately start buying AI ads.
We think the first step is understanding the landscape.
Before launching a campaign, brands should know:
- Which buyer questions already mention them
- Which competitors appear instead
- Which questions have commercial intent
- Which opportunities are worth testing
- Which categories have the highest potential impact
That's why every engagement starts with an AI Commerce Visibility analysis.
It gives brands a baseline before a single advertising dollar is spent.
AI Commerce Isn't About Hacking Recommendations
There's already plenty of conversation about "ranking in ChatGPT."
We think that's the wrong conversation.
- No agency controls the models.
- No agency controls the sources.
- No agency can promise permanent visibility inside an AI system that changes continuously.
Instead of trying to chase algorithms, brands should focus on creating measurable signals and testing real buyer demand.
That's where the AI Commerce Pilot comes in.
What We Actually Test
The AI Commerce Pilot isn't designed to prove that AI works.
It's designed to answer practical business questions.
- Where are customers asking about our products?
- Which questions have the highest commercial intent?
- Which competitors currently own those conversations?
- Can paid AI discovery generate meaningful engagement?
- Can those campaigns drive measurable commerce outcomes?
Every pilot is built around testing, learning, and measuring.
Because learning early is often more valuable than spending big later.
Why We Believe This Matters
The interesting part of AI commerce isn't simply that AI recommends products.
It's what happens after the recommendation.
- Does someone click?
- Compare products?
- Purchase?
- Come back later?
Those behaviors become evidence.
And over time, that evidence can become more valuable than the recommendation itself.
That's why we believe AI commerce needs more than smarter models.
It needs better measurement.
The Beginning of Commerce Intelligence
We don't see the AI Commerce Pilot as another advertising service.
We see it as a way for brands to begin understanding how commerce is changing.
- Every pilot creates insight.
- Every campaign teaches something.
- Every interaction reveals a little more about how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase products through AI.
That's the opportunity we're excited about.
Not because AI will replace ecommerce.
Because it's creating an entirely new layer of commerce intelligence that brands have never had access to before.
The brands that start learning today will have a much clearer picture of tomorrow.
Ready to See How AI Sees Your Brand?
Start with an AI Commerce Snapshot.
We'll analyze where your brand appears in AI shopping answers, identify the competitors winning the conversation, and uncover the highest-value opportunities before you spend a dollar on advertising.
Because the first step isn't buying AI ads.
It's understanding the opportunity.
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