ChatGPT remains one of the web's most-visited destinations, but AI users are becoming increasingly platform-agnostic. New traffic patterns reveal how competitors are attracting a growing share of attention.

Growth owes largely to trading, wealth management, and capital markets activity rather than a broad rebound in core banking growth.

As retailers push into agentic commerce, success may hinge less on the technology itself and more on how quickly consumers are willing to change their habits.

AI-referred traffic has become a year-round structural feature for retailers of how consumers find and buy products.

45% of US adults cite concerns about how their data is collected or used as their top worry about AI shopping, according to a January survey from Omnisend.

Nearly half of US AI users (49%) say they're likely or very likely to try a different brand than usual if an AI assistant suggests one as an alternative, according to a March report from EMARKETER and Publicis Commerce.

Digital shelf labels (DSLs) are gaining momentum in retail stores, as major players prepare to scale adoption. Walmart recently announced plans to roll out DSLs across its entire store fleet within the next year, while Kroger has already begun replacing traditional paper tags with electronic labels in its Cincinnati-area stores.

ChatGPT's US unique visitor count grew 76% year over year, climbing from 41.5 million in January 2025 to 72.9 million in January 2026, according to a March report from Comscore.

Social platforms want a bigger role in search ad budgets, but user habits lag behind. As search expands beyond traditional engines, these platforms must turn occasional behavior into intent-driven activity to grab ad dollars.

AI is moving upstream, showing up earlier in the decision-making process and increasingly shaping what happens next.

Mcommerce is lucrative in the UK. But retailers must continue evolving their apps and mobile sites to stay competitive in the age of AI.

Perplexity is challenging an Amazon ban in a court fight over Comet AI that could curb retail media power.

Social media added 108.0 billion hours of mobile app time globally in 2025, more than three times the gain of the next-closest category, genAI/AI assistants (30.3 billion hours), according to a January report from Sensor Tower.

This FAQ explores the main types of loyalty programs and how retailers can use them to drive lasting customer relationships.

Early ChatGPT ads favor learning over ROI; high CPMs and limited measurement skew participation toward brands buying influence and insight.

Regulators say limiting rival chatbots on WhatsApp could breach competition rules and reshape AI distribution power.

Anthropic says it prioritizes trust over monetization; the company says ads inside AI chat would undermine credibility in work, health, and reasoning contexts.

The AI Platform Is Closer Than Some Rivals, but It Still Faces Barriers

The growing role of AI in shopping is forcing retailers to rethink discovery and decision-making. Walmart, for example, is embedding its ecommerce capabilities into external AI assistants like Google’s Gemini. Meanwhile, Amazon is keeping AI-led discovery and decision-making inside its own ecosystem with tools like Rufus.