Live: The 2026 Holiday Shopping AI Shelf Index. See the shelf

Holiday Shopping 2026 · August 2026 to January 2027

The Skincare shelf

What ChatGPT and Google AI Mode recommend when a UK shopper asks them about skincare — ranked by how often each brand made the shelf.

🇺🇸 US 🇬🇧 UK 🇨🇦 CA 🇦🇺 AU

Shopper Journeys

How the skincare shelf shifts as a shopper moves from “what's out there” to “which one do I buy”, for everyone or for one shopper.

Everyone The Gifting Parent The Reinventer The Routine Builder The New Shopper
Awareness
CeraVe 27%
Byoma 11%
La Roche-Posay 10%
Bubble Skincare 10%
The Ordinary 8%
Research
CeraVe 14%
Bubble Skincare 9%
Byoma 6%
The Ordinary 5%
Aveeno 5%
Comparison
Byoma 17%
CeraVe 17%
Cetaphil 10%
Bubble Skincare 9%
E.L.F. SKIN 4%
Validation
CeraVe 18%
Spots & Stripes 12%
Cetaphil 8%
Bubble Skincare 4%
No7 2%
Purchase
Bubble Skincare 19%
CeraVe 16%
Byoma 16%
Spots & Stripes 6%
No7 5%

The Gifting Parent's shelf. Each stage's bar is shelf-share within that stage.

Brand
Shelf-share
Shelf Share Trend
Visibility
1
La Roche-Posay
12.9%
38.8%
2
CeraVe
10.2%
36.9%
3
COSRX
4.3%
16.9%
4
Avène
4.1%
16.3%
5
The Ordinary
3.5%
16.9%
6
Beauty of Joseon
3.4%
14.4%
7
Byoma
2.9%
10.0%
8
Bubble Skincare
2.8%
9.4%
9
Cetaphil
1.8%
7.5%
10
No7
1.7%
13.1%
11
Clinique
1.6%
10.6%
12
SKIN1004
1.5%
9.4%
13
The INKEY List
1.5%
5.6%
14
Paula's Choice
1.0%
10.0%
15
Aveeno
0.9%
7.5%
16
Anua
0.9%
6.3%
17
Eucerin
0.8%
5.6%
18
Elemis
0.7%
7.5%
19
Medicube
0.7%
5.0%
20
Isntree
0.6%
2.5%
21
Sulwhasoo
0.6%
1.3%
22
Medik8
0.5%
7.5%
23
Clarins
0.5%
4.4%
24
Estée Lauder
0.5%
4.4%
25
Green People
0.5%
1.3%
No brand named
30.6%

Shelf-share = the share of shopper attention a brand holds. Visibility = the share of answers that named it at all.

How to read this table

Shelf-share weights every mention by where the brand sits in the answer, so the shelf adds up to 100%. Named first on a short shelf is worth far more than named fourth on a long one.

Visibility ignores position — simply how often a brand is named. Divide shelf-share by visibility and you get how much of the shelf a brand takes when it does appear.

No brand named is the share of answers that recommended no identifiable brand at all — advice, or retailers only.

Products the engines name

The specific SKUs surfaced inside skincare answers.

Rank
Product
Shelf-share
Shelf Share Trend
Visibility
Price
1
Hydrating Cleanser
CeraVe
3.1%
7.8%
£9.37
2
Toleriane Dermallergo Cream
La Roche-Posay
2.9%
5.9%
£14.28 – £21.00
3
Moisturising Cream
CeraVe
2.2%
7.5%
—
4
Toleriane Rosaliac AR SPF30
La Roche-Posay
2.1%
5.3%
—
5
Tolérance Control Soothing Skin Recovery Cream
Avène
1.6%
4.1%
—
6
Cicaplast Baume B5+
La Roche-Posay
1.4%
4.7%
—
7
Glow Serum
Beauty of Joseon
1.3%
3.4%
—
8
Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%
The Ordinary
1.3%
3.4%
£5.51
9
Toleriane Rosaliac AR
La Roche-Posay
1.2%
2.5%
£18.70 – £27.50
10
Redness Expert Soothing Moisturising Concentrated Cream
Avène
1.0%
3.1%
£16.33 – £24.50
11
Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence
COSRX
1.0%
2.5%
£14.71
12
Toleriane Dermo-Cleanser
La Roche-Posay
1.0%
1.9%
—
13
Creamy Jelly Cleanser
Byoma
0.8%
1.6%
—
14
Best Sellers Duo
CeraVe
0.8%
1.3%
£17.10
15
Centella Ampoule
SKIN1004
0.7%
3.8%
£8.43 – £20.00
16
Anti-Redness Soothing Care
Eucerin
0.6%
2.2%
£14.13 – £21.10
17
Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm
Elemis
0.6%
2.2%
£22.99 – £52.00
18
Toleriane range
La Roche-Posay
0.6%
1.3%
—
19
Heartleaf Toner
Anua
0.5%
2.8%
—
20
3-Step Teen Skincare Set
GenGlo
0.5%
0.9%
—
How to read this table

Price is a band, not one number: the cheapest price on the market, the brand’s own price in bold, and the dearest — sorted low to high. Where only one figure is known, only one is shown. A dash means no price we could verify, not a free product.

How we measure

We ask the assistants the same real shopper questions each run, and record every brand each one recommends.

What that means in practice

Each run we ask ChatGPT and Google AI Mode the same set of questions, one persona and market at a time.

Shelf-share is the share of answers in a category that named a brand. The questions never name a brand, so a brand is on the shelf because the engine chose it.

We settle on the questions before each run, never after. A brand on the shelf is the assistant’s pick, not one we went looking for.

Read the full method — the shoppers, their journey, and the season →

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