In just a few months, the way we shop has changed dramatically. We no longer compare, we ask. AI summarizes, filters, suggests, and sometimes finalizes the purchase, without leaving the interface. For brands, the consequence is immediate: if AI doesn't see you, neither does the user. With the rise of agentic commerce and the arrival of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), the ability to make your data readable is no longer an option: it's a prerequisite for remaining visible.
AI simplifies everything and reshuffles the deck
Users no longer have to navigate through a series of tabs. AI reduces the process to a single, quick, and seamless interaction. It is not trust that motivates use, but convenience: AI responds faster and more simply than a traditional search engine.
In this new context, the factors that made e-commerce successful (SEO, sponsored links, optimized listings) no longer offer any guarantees. AI may completely ignore a product that is very well referenced. It chooses what it considers relevant, not what is best optimized. This shift redistributes visibility and creates a new competitive arena: that of data that can be exploited by AI engines.
When AI collaborates with brands
A major transformation is already underway: AI providers are beginning to forge direct partnerships with brands. OpenAI has led the way with Instant Checkout, allowing users to make purchases without leaving ChatGPT. This feature is based on agreements with American retailers such as Target and a few others.
This movement foreshadows a model in which AI will become a strategic gateway, capable of favoring certain catalogs. The products promoted, the merchants chosen, and even the place where the purchase is finalized will then depend on these collaborations. Brands must monitor these agreements closely: tomorrow, visibility in an AI interface could depend on a partnership rather than a search engine.
Existing in AI: an opportunity to seize as soon as possible
The act of purchasing always starts with the user, but AI now manages a large part of the process: understanding intent, comparing, recommending, and sometimes redirecting to the purchase. To appear in these steps, catalogs must be flawless: clean, complete, and structured.
This is where agentic commerce and GEO become decisive. They define how AI interprets a product, how it links it to a purchase intention, and how it prioritizes it among others. If the data is not usable, AI will suggest another product... or another brand. And this can happen even if the user initially intended to buy from a specific brand.
The e-commerce site is no longer the center of the customer journey
A new reality is emerging: purchases can be made without ever visiting a brand's website. What was once a necessary step is now just one option among many, and one that is often bypassed.
A highly ranked product may remain invisible if AI determines that another product better meets the user's intent. AI sorts through results on behalf of the user and determines what deserves to be displayed.
This development has a direct impact on internal sales mechanisms at sites. Upselling and cross-selling, which were previously controlled within the proprietary interface, are likely to disappear if they are not integrated into the AI ecosystem. AI can only recommend what it understands and what it can clearly read in catalogs.
Priority: Become compatible with the AI ecosystem
In this new landscape, time is working against brands that are slow to adapt. AI engines already favor the cleanest, most complete, and most structured catalogs. Those that are compatible first will be promoted first.
Brands must therefore transfer their sales mechanisms to this environment. This involves a profound transformation: making catalogs usable by AI systems, integrating the necessary attributes, and rethinking the role of the e-commerce site, no longer as a hub of the customer journey, but as a secondary destination.
The new challenge is no longer to capture traffic, but to be selected by AI before competitors.
A usage-driven business
Usage patterns are changing rapidly. Google searches are declining, while AI queries are skyrocketing. The process is narrowing down to a single interaction: the user formulates their need, and the AI responds. Simple, direct, and straightforward.
In this streamlined model, every brand must accept this new playing field and ensure it has a presence where decisions are now made: in the AI storefront. Intelligent interfaces are becoming the gateway to e-commerce, and they will increasingly determine which brands matter and which fade into obscurity.
Jérôme Malzac
Innovation Director
Micropole, a Talan company
