Your visibility no longer depends solely on Google rankings. It depends on whether AI systems can read, trust, and recommend your products. AI shopping tools now bypass traditional search results entirely, showing product carousels based on structured data, natural language descriptions, and trust signals.
The businesses that optimize now will have a significant advantage as this technology becomes standard. This guide covers the practical steps New Zealand retailers can take today to ensure their products appear when customers ask AI tools for recommendations.
AI shopping is still rolling out, but New Zealand retailers can start preparing now. These five steps will help your products appear when customers ask AI tools for recommendations:
These are the same foundations that improve traditional SEO. By focusing on them now, you’ll be ready when AI shopping becomes standard in New Zealand.
ChatGPT already shows product carousels with buy buttons. Google is testing AI-generated shopping results. And shoppers are starting to ask AI tools for recommendations instead of scrolling through search pages.
For online retailers, the implications are significant. If your products aren’t optimized for AI discovery, you simply won’t appear in these recommendations. Your competitors will. And as more shoppers adopt this behavior, the gap will widen.
The shift is especially important for New Zealand businesses. While AI shopping features are still rolling out internationally, early adoption gives local retailers a competitive advantage. By the time this becomes mainstream, you’ll already be visible.
When ChatGPT decides which products to recommend, it’s not picking randomly. It’s evaluating your website against specific criteria to determine whether your products are relevant, trustworthy, and accurately described.
AI systems scan your site, product feeds, and external sources to build a picture of what you sell and whether you’re reliable. Here’s what influences that decision:
Schema markup tells AI exactly what your product is, what it costs, and whether it’s in stock. Without it, AI has to guess. With it, your product details are clear and machine-readable. Tools like RankMath for WordPress or Shopify’s built-in schema features handle this automatically.
AI matches products to prompts based on how people actually talk. If someone asks for “running shoes with arch support under $150,” your product description should use those exact phrases, not technical jargon like “premium athletic footwear with orthotic compatibility.”
Prices, availability, and images must be current. If your website says “in stock” but your Google feed says “out of stock,” AI systems flag the inconsistency and may skip your product entirely.
Customer reviews matter. So does your brand’s reputation across the web. AI cross-checks mentions on platforms like Reddit, review sites, and industry blogs to gauge whether people trust your products.
Slow sites or pages that don’t work on mobile hurt your chances. AI crawlers prioritize websites that load quickly and display information clearly across devices.
The pattern is clear: AI rewards businesses that are accurate, transparent, and easy to understand. Get these fundamentals right, and you’ll be in a strong position when AI shopping becomes the norm.
AI shopping is still rolling out internationally, but New Zealand retailers can start preparing today. The steps that make your site stronger for AI discovery also improve traditional search performance. Here’s what to focus on:
Schema markup is code that labels your product details in a way AI systems can instantly read. Without it, ChatGPT has to interpret your page manually. With it, your product name, price, availability, and reviews are crystal clear.
Most eCommerce platforms handle this automatically. If you’re on Shopify, schema is built in. For WordPress, plugins like RankMath or Yoast generate the markup for you. Once it’s set up, test it using Google’s Rich Results Test to ensure everything is working correctly.
Your product titles feed directly into AI recommendations. They need to be clear, descriptive, and written the way customers actually talk.
Use this simple formula:
[Main Benefit or Feature] + [Product Type] + [Brand if it builds trust]
Instead of “Men’s Footwear Model X-2000,” write “Waterproof Hiking Boots for NZ Trails.” Instead of “Premium Kitchen Appliance,” write “Quiet Blender for Smoothies and Soups.”
If your brand is well-known and adds credibility (like “All Blacks Official Jersey”), include it. If not, lead with the benefit customers care about most.
AI matches products to prompts based on how people phrase their questions. If someone asks ChatGPT for “running shoes with good arch support,” your description should include those exact words, not technical terms like “orthotic compatibility footwear.”
Here’s how to find the language your customers use:
Once you know the phrases, weave them naturally into your descriptions. Write like you’re answering a friend’s question, not filling out a spec sheet.
Inconsistent information kills your chances of being recommended. If your website says a product is in stock but your Google Merchant Center feed shows it as unavailable, AI systems flag the mismatch and may skip your product entirely.
Common issues and how to fix them:
| Problem | Why It Happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Price mismatch | Feed not refreshed after sale | Enable automatic daily feed updates |
| Wrong availability | Inventory updated on site but feed lags | Sync stock levels in real-time where possible |
| Incorrect product title | Feed title differs from page H1 | Align feed titles with on-page headings |
| Wrong image showing | Feed defaults to first gallery image | Set your hero image as primary in both CMS and feed |
| Missing reviews | Reviews only visible via JavaScript | Add Review schema to your HTML |
Set up automated syncing where possible, but manually check your feeds before major promotions or product launches.
Reviews signal trust to both shoppers and AI systems. Make sure they’re visible on your product pages and included in your structured data.
Encourage customers to leave genuine reviews after purchase. Don’t hide them in tabs or JavaScript-only sections where AI crawlers might miss them. The more authentic feedback you have, the stronger your trust signals.
AI crawlers prioritize fast, mobile-friendly websites. If your product pages take more than three seconds to load or don’t display properly on phones, you’re already at a disadvantage.
Test your site speed with Google PageSpeed Insights and ensure your product information loads quickly across all devices. Mobile traffic accounts for the majority of eCommerce browsing in New Zealand, so this isn’t optional.
These are the same foundations Energise Web focuses on when building or optimizing eCommerce websites. Taking these steps now helps businesses stay visible and competitive as AI shopping expands.
AI shopping levels the playing field for smaller New Zealand businesses.
When someone asks ChatGPT for “eco-friendly coffee beans delivered in Auckland,” the AI doesn’t prioritize multinational brands with big advertising budgets. It looks for relevance, accuracy, and trust. A local roastery with clear product information, genuine reviews, and proper schema markup can appear right alongside Starbucks or Nespresso.
This is a genuine competitive advantage. Large brands often have sprawling websites with inconsistent data and slow-moving technical teams. Smaller retailers can move faster, keep information more accurate, and build stronger relationships with local customers who leave authentic reviews.
The key is preparation. Local businesses that optimize early will capture visibility before their larger competitors catch on. By the time AI shopping becomes mainstream in New Zealand, you’ll already be appearing in recommendations while others are still figuring out what schema markup is.
For shoppers, this means better access to local products and businesses that actually understand the New Zealand market. For retailers, it’s a chance to compete based on quality and reliability rather than marketing spend.
This is exactly why Energise Web focuses on getting the fundamentals right from the start. When your product data is accurate, your site structure is clear, and your content speaks the language customers use, you’re not just ready for AI shopping. You’re ready to compete with anyone.
Optimizing for AI shopping is only useful if you can measure whether it’s working. Here’s how to track your visibility and results.
ChatGPT automatically adds a tracking tag to all outbound links: utm_source=chatgpt.com
This makes it easy to see how much traffic comes from AI recommendations. Set up a custom segment in Google Analytics to track visitors from this source specifically. Watch for:
Keep in mind that not every ChatGPT mention is directly trackable. Some users see your product in a recommendation, then search for your brand name directly on Google. Look for unexplained spikes in branded search traffic or direct visits as an indirect signal of AI visibility.
To see if your products appear in ChatGPT recommendations, you need to test the kinds of prompts customers actually use. Most shopping queries fall into four categories:
Price-based prompts
“Best running shoes under $200”
“Affordable organic skincare NZ”
Use-case prompts
“Hiking boots for wet weather”
“Laptop for video editing students”
Feature-based prompts
“Waterproof Bluetooth speaker with long battery”
“Non-toxic wooden toys for toddlers”
Problem-solution prompts
“Coffee maker that doesn’t leak”
“Desk chair for lower back pain”
Build a list of 10-15 prompts across these categories that match your products. Test them in ChatGPT regularly and track:
Run these tests monthly to understand how your visibility changes over time and what language triggers recommendations.
Manual testing works, but it’s time-consuming. If you want to scale your tracking, tools like Semrush’s AI SEO Toolkit can monitor which prompts surface your products, track brand sentiment, and compare your visibility across different AI platforms.
These tools provide dashboards showing trends over time, making it easier to spot what’s working and where you need to improve.
The key is to start tracking now, even if AI traffic is small. Early data will help you understand patterns and optimize faster as AI shopping grows in New Zealand.
AI shopping features are rolling out internationally. ChatGPT already shows product recommendations with buy buttons globally, though instant checkout is currently limited to certain platforms in the US. New Zealand retailers can start optimizing now so their products are ready when these features expand locally.
No. Unlike Google Shopping ads, you cannot pay for placement in ChatGPT recommendations. Products appear based on relevance, accuracy, trust signals, and how well your website communicates with AI systems. This creates opportunities for smaller retailers who optimize correctly.
AI shopping won’t replace Google entirely, but it is changing how people discover products. Shoppers are increasingly asking AI tools for recommendations instead of scrolling through search results. Retailers need to optimize for both traditional search and AI discovery to maintain visibility across all channels.
Not directly. ChatGPT decides based on relevance to the user’s query. However, you can improve specific products’ chances by optimizing their descriptions with natural language, ensuring accurate pricing and availability, and building strong review signals for those items.
Incorrect information damages trust with both shoppers and AI systems. If ChatGPT shows wrong prices or availability, it may deprioritize your products in future recommendations. Regular audits of your product feeds and website data help prevent these issues.
Yes. AI systems cross-check trust signals from multiple sources including review platforms, Reddit, industry blogs, and social media. Positive mentions across the web strengthen your credibility, while negative patterns can hurt your chances of being recommended.
AI shopping isn’t replacing traditional eCommerce overnight, but it’s changing the rules faster than most retailers realize.
The businesses that optimize now will have a significant advantage. While competitors scramble to understand schema markup and product feeds in six months, you’ll already be appearing in ChatGPT recommendations and capturing traffic from AI-driven shoppers.
The steps are straightforward: add structured data, write in natural language, keep your information accurate, build trust signals, and track your results. These aren’t experimental tactics. They’re the same fundamentals that strengthen your entire online presence.
Energise Web specializes in getting these foundations right from the start. We help New Zealand eCommerce businesses build sites that are fast, accurate, and structured for both traditional search and AI discovery. From schema implementation and product feed optimization to content strategy and performance tuning, we make sure your store is ready.
Don’t wait until AI shopping is mainstream to start preparing. Get in touch with Energise Web today to review your online store and position it for the next phase of eCommerce.
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