When shoppers ask ChatGPT for “the best running shoes for high arches,” the AI chatbot sees that as a shopping intent and often responds with product recommendations. But brands have little insight into why or how those products are chosen.
Profound, the one-year-old startup that helps brands influence how they appear in AI search, calls this phenomenon the invisible commerce layer: the hidden engine of product recommendations embedded in AI interactions. The company aims to give more insight into that layer with a new tool announced Thursday, called Shopping Analysis.
Shopping Analysis tracks how products are surfaced, described, and ranked within AI answer engines—a growing blind spot for retailers as AI assistants increasingly become the front door to online shopping.
