Retailers tap AI shopping traffic but fight to keep customer data

As shoppers increasingly turn to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini for product recommendations, retailers are racing to appear in chatbot results while resisting efforts to cede customer data that underpin online sales.

Growing online traffic from AI platforms has pushed retailers including Walmart, Ulta Beauty and Wayfair to update their websites so their products rank highly in chatbot searches. Yet many want purchases to remain on their own websites, where they can collect data on browsing habits, basket sizes and past purchases that help drive future sales and customer loyalty.