Where Retail Media Budgets Go Next

Something important is happening inside ChatGPT, and it’s already affecting where retail media and co-op dollars perform. Consumers are asking AI for product recommendations and receiving curated purchase paths — brand names, prices, retailer links, and a direct route to checkout. The purchase journey takes mere secondsin AI. 

Bluefish AI Shopping Insights captures this data and brings it into existing workflows alongside the other signals a brand already tracks.  Now teams can connect the dots between where a brand ranks organically in AI shopping results and their retail media and co-op investments. 

AI shopping is now part of the e-commerce channel mix 

Brands already manage a commerce channel mix across search, social, retail media, and now AI shopping has earned its place in that lineup. The AI shopping channel is already in market, already converting, and already large enough to influence retail revenue materially: 

• AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail websites surged 4,700% year-over-year 

• Shoppers referred by AI convert at 1.7x the rate of Google Search traffic 

• 80% of consumers plan to use generative AI to shop in 2026 

• Generative AI and AI agents drove an estimated $262 billion in global retail revenue during the 2025 holiday season — roughly 20% of total holiday sales 

• 97% of retailers have either implemented AI or have an active AI program in development 

The revenue is moving. The question is which retailer captures it. 

The retail media connection 

Most brands aren’t yet asking which retailer wins the checkout when a consumer follows an AI-generated purchase path. 

This is as much of an AI visibility question, as it is a retail media one, too. If 60% of AI-driven purchase paths in a category are routing through two retail partners, that iswhere co-op investment should be concentrated. If a competitor is dominating a category segment a brand hasn’t prioritized, that’s a co-op reallocation conversation — grounded in data rather than assumption. 

Bluefish AI Shopping Insights supports and expands the surface area of decisions across: 

• Retail media & co-op strategy: Understand which retail partners are capturing AI-driven checkout in your category and invest accordingly. 

• Content prioritization: Identify the category and audience gaps where competitors are beatable, and direct content investment toward the highest-impact opportunities. 

• eCommerce optimization: Understand how AI systems are interpreting your product detail pages, then update them to align with what those systems surface and reward. 

• Revenue measurement: Connect AI shopping presence to downstream sales performance and build it into your measurement framework as a leading indicator. 

What AI shopping data is — and how to use it 

Bluefish AI Shopping Insights tracks real shoppable responses captured directly from ChatGPT: which products appeared, which retailers were linked, what the current prices are, and where a brand is positioned among its competitors. Every insight is tied to a verified purchase path.  

Available now in your Bluefish account 

AI Shopping Insights is live in the Bluefish AMP under AI Insights with no additional setup required. Share of voice, first position capture rates, retailer distribution, audience gap analysis, and exportable product-level data are all available today. 

We’re excited to build on this with you. Reach out to your account manager or visit bluefishai.com to get started.