Amazon leads ecommerce marketplaces for AI visibility

Amazon is the most visible major online marketplace across leading generative AI platforms, according to new analysis from Onclusive examining how e-commerce brands appear in responses generated by ChatGPT and Perplexity. The study found that Amazon accounted for 19. 3% of marketplace share of voice, ahead of Walmart at 14%, Alibaba at 12. 6%, Shopify at 11.

6% and eBay at 11. 1%. Temu recorded a share of voice of 9. 7%, followed by MercadoLibre at 9. 2% and Etsy at 8. 2%. European marketplaces Zalando and CDiscount recorded 3. 9% and 0. 5% respectively.

The findings highlight significant differences in how frequently major e-commerce platforms are surfaced by generative AI tools, as consumers increasingly use AI engines to research brands, products and online shopping options. Recent NIQ research found nearly three-quarters (74%) of shoppers globally now use AI for product discovery.

Newer platforms are already competing for AI visibility against more established players, Temu’s 9. 7% share of voice is comparable to Shopify and eBay. LLM Visibility – Share of Voice Amazon 19. 3% Walmart 14% Alibaba 12. 6% Shopify 11. 6% eBay 11. 1% Temu 9. 7% MercadoLibre 9. 2% Etsy 8. 2% Zalando 3. 9% CDiscount 0.

5% Share of voice measures a brand’s visibility relative to competitors within the scope of the analysis, based on the frequency with which each marketplace was mentioned across AI-generated responses. Amazon also achieved the highest average prominence score, at 92%, compared with 84% for Walmart.

Prominence measures how early a brand first appears within an AI-generated response, with a higher score indicating that the brand tends to be mentioned closer to the beginning of the answer. The analysis also suggests that visibility within generative AI is closely associated with brands’ wider media presence.

Marketplaces with greater volumes of traditional media coverage generally also recorded higher LLM visibility. Amazon ranked first across both measures, with a 19. 3% share of AI visibility and 16. 4 million media mentions, while Walmart ranked second for AI visibility at 14% alongside 5. 6 million media mentions.

Generative AI now forms another layer of brand discovery alongside traditional search, social media and other digital channels. What stands out from this analysis is how quickly a new hierarchy of brand visibility is forming within generative AI.

The major marketplaces are not appearing equally, and the gap between the most and least visible brands is already significant. For businesses, the challenge is no longer simply whether they appear in AI-generated answers, but how consistently they are surfaced, how prominently they feature and how they compare with competitors.

As more consumers use AI tools to research brands, products and services, that visibility is likely to become an increasingly important part of the digital discovery landscape. – Christophe Asselin, Senior Insights Manager at Onclusive