By Steve Merrill, Founder of WRKNG Digital | September 19, 2026
The five AI shopping assistants Shopify brands should test in 2026 are ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot, and Amazon Rufus. These are where buyers ask what to buy before they ever hit your site. If you are not showing up in their answers, you are invisible to that shopper.
I ran a store to $10 million a year. Buyers used to start on Google. Now a big chunk start by asking an AI. Here is where to test your visibility, and how.
1. ChatGPT Shopping and Instant Checkout
ChatGPT surfaces products inside answers and now lets people buy without leaving the chat. OpenAI launched Instant Checkout using the Agentic Commerce Protocol built with Shopify and Stripe, so Shopify merchants can sell right inside the conversation. Test it by asking ChatGPT the exact questions your buyers ask, then check if your product gets named and if the price and details are right.
2. Perplexity Shopping
Perplexity answers product questions with cited sources and its own shopping feature that pulls real listings. It launched Perplexity Shopping with buy-with-Pro and merchant product feeds. Test it by searching your category and seeing which sources it cites, because Perplexity shows its work, and that tells you exactly which pages to fix.
3. Google AI Mode and Gemini Shopping
Google folded shopping into AI Mode and Gemini, backed by its Shopping Graph of billions of products. Google detailed its AI shopping features including virtual try-on and agentic checkout. Test it by running your buyer questions in AI Mode and confirming your Merchant Center feed is clean, because that feed is what feeds the answers.
4. Microsoft Copilot
Copilot is Microsoft's assistant across Windows, Edge, and Bing, and it recommends products inside answers. Microsoft has built shopping tools like price tracking and buying guides into Copilot. Test it by asking Copilot your category questions in Edge, since it pulls heavily from Bing's index, so your Bing visibility matters here.
5. Amazon Rufus
Rufus is Amazon's shopping assistant that answers questions and recommends products right inside the Amazon app. Amazon rolled out Rufus to millions of shoppers to help them decide what to buy. If you sell on Amazon, test Rufus by asking about your category and checking whether your listing gets recommended and whether your details answer the question it is trying to solve.
How We Chose This List
Every assistant here is real, live, and used by shoppers today. We picked the five with the most reach and the clearest path for a Shopify brand to show up in their answers.
FAQ
Q: Which AI shopping assistants should Shopify brands test first?
Start with ChatGPT and Perplexity. They have the most shoppers researching products right now, and both link to real products, so you see fast whether your store shows up.
Q: How do you test if your store is visible in an AI shopping assistant?
Ask the assistant the questions your buyers ask, like the best product in your category under a set price. Check if your brand gets named, if the link is right, and if the details match your pages.
Q: Does Amazon Rufus work for non-Amazon Shopify stores?
Rufus only recommends products sold on Amazon. If you sell on Amazon too, test it. If you are Shopify only, put your energy into ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode.
Q: Can people actually buy through these assistants?
Some can. ChatGPT has Instant Checkout built with Shopify and Stripe. Others still send the shopper to your product page to buy.
Want to know if your store shows up when a buyer asks an AI what to buy? We test all five and fix what is broken. See how it works at WRKNG Digital's agentic commerce page.
