Research conducted by Vaer AI and Lightspeed Commerce analyzed 460,000 AI-generated shopping responses across ChatGPT and Google’s AI products to examine recommendation patterns. The study found that big chains received 52% of top AI recommendations, while smaller businesses received 20%. Smaller retailers’ share of top AI recommendations fell from roughly 40% for general browsing to 20% for specific branded products.

When ChatGPT included retailer names in its web searches, 97% were large or mid-sized chains. Small and local retailers accounted for 1-4% of retailer names included in ChatGPT web searches.

Adding the word "independent" to a shopping prompt reduced the share of retailer sources from large national chains from around 44% to as low as 9%. This adjustment more than doubled the share of small and local retailers recommended by AI.

Half of surveyed consumers said they would be more likely to shop locally if AI made nearby independent retailers easier to discover. Additionally, 33% of surveyed consumers said AI should prioritize small or local businesses when making recommendations.

In contrast, 13% of surveyed consumers said AI should prioritize large brands when making recommendations. These consumer preferences indicate a disconnect between current AI outputs and shopper desires for local discovery.

Lightspeed Commerce is a point-of-sale and e-commerce software provider based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The company offers its services to retail, restaurant, and hospitality businesses.

Dax Dasilva is the CEO and founder of Lightspeed Commerce. As a Canadian company that provides omnichannel software to independent retailers, Lightspeed Commerce commissioned the Vaer AI study to address AI's bias against small businesses.

Timeline

Traffic from generative AI tools to U.S. retail websites rose significantly during the November-December 2025 holiday season compared with the previous year. In March 2026, visits from AI sources converted at a rate 42% higher than visits from non-AI sources.

AI referrals to U.S. retail websites increased 393% year over year in the first quarter of 2026. These figures illustrate the rapid growth in AI-driven traffic to retail platforms over a short period.

What's New

Lightspeed Commerce launched a public awareness campaign to improve AI visibility for small businesses, including an interactive storefront activation demonstrating how AI generates shopping recommendations and guidance for retailers to optimize their presence in AI systems. It was reported that AI shopping tools recommend big-box retailers in 94% of queries, creating a significant disadvantage for independent retailers despite their local relevance.

The Recomaze 2026 State of AI Commerce report found that 60% of U.S. stores were not recommended in any of 58,320 AI tests, with stores recommended only 14% of the time across all tests. Vaer AI’s study found that adding the word 'independent' to a shopping prompt reduced large national chain recommendations from 44% to 9%, while doubling the share of small and local retailers in AI responses.

Why It Matters

The dominance of large chains in AI recommendations creates a structural disadvantage for independent retailers, who rely on local relevance rather than brand scale. With AI referrals converting at significantly higher rates than non-AI sources, visibility in these tools directly impacts sales viability for small businesses.

The data shows that simple prompt adjustments can mitigate this bias, suggesting that consumer behavior and retailer optimization strategies can influence outcomes. As AI traffic grows, the ability of independent stores to appear in these results becomes critical for maintaining market diversity and meeting consumer demand for local shopping options.