The stories behind the shelf

🇬🇧 Fitness & Outdoor · UK · September 2026

Two assistants, two different British fitness shelves

The same question, asked of ChatGPT and of Google AI Mode, comes back with a different brand at the top. Some names a...

🇺🇸 Overall · US · September 2026

Which aisle you ask about decides which high street you're sent to

Ask where to buy a kitchen gadget in America and AI names the big-box chains. Ask where to buy a moisturiser and it n...

🇺🇸 Supplements · US · September 2026

Say who you are, or AI names brands it recommends to no one

The gym starter and the healthy ager get two shelves with almost nothing in common. Ask without saying which you are ...

🇺🇸 Overall · US · September 2026

One aisle has a short list of real competitors. The other has a crowd

A handful of brands cover half the British kitchen shelf. It takes a long queue of them to cover half the American su...

🇺🇸 Pet Supplies · US · September 2026

One brand AI still recommends to everybody

Most brands are named to a single kind of shopper and no other. Pet food is the exception: ask about a puppy, an old ...

🌍 Overall · All markets · September 2026

One brand clears every border

Most brands are a local answer — strong in one market, thin in the next. On the fitness shelf one name sits near the ...

🇺🇸 Toys · US · September 2026

The toy shelf adults buy from has a different number one

Ask for a child and the bricks and tiles come out. Ask as an adult buying for yourself and a blind-box brand takes th...

🇺🇸 Skincare · US · September 2026

The skincare you're given isn't the skincare you're told to buy

Shop for yourself and AI reaches for the plain white tube. Shop for someone else and the top of the shelf goes to a b...

🌍 Skincare · All markets · September 2026

Three countries have a chemist. America has a scramble

Ask for skincare in Britain, Canada or Australia and one chain answers, over and over. Ask in America and no shop com...

🇺🇸 Skincare · US · September 2026

The shelf AI calls cheap and the shelf it calls dear are different brands

AI puts a price label on what it recommends, in its own words. In skincare the brands it calls inexpensive are the on...

🇺🇸 Overall · US · August 2026

A two-brand town, and an aisle that can't commit

In toys, Magna-Tiles and LEGO split the top of the shelf between them and leave crumbs for everyone else. In suppleme...

🇦🇺 Toys · AU · August 2026

In Australia, “toys” means the backyard

Trampolines, cricket sets, outdoor play. The Aussie toy shelf spills into the yard, and it is the one market LEGO doe...

🇨🇦 Supplements · CA · August 2026

Canada's supplement shelf has a border wall

Every brand AI puts in front of a Canadian supplement shopper is Canadian. Even the gym starter reaching for a first ...

🇺🇸 Skincare · US · August 2026

AI's skincare shelf is a passport

Ask as a Gen-Z routine-builder and it stamps Seoul. Ask with mature skin and it stamps a French pharmacy. Same questi...

🇦🇺 Skincare · AU · August 2026

In Australia, AI's skincare shelf is a lifeguard

Ask for skincare down under and AI reaches first for sunscreen from a cancer charity. Even mature-skin shoppers get i...

🇺🇸 Pet Supplies · US · August 2026

AI thinks your dog eats better than you

Ask as a fresh-food shopper and the kibble giants disappear, swapped for a plated, subscription meal. Everyone else j...

🇨🇦 Pet Supplies · CA · August 2026

AI's top pick for your apartment cat is a robot

Ask about an indoor cat and the shelf's number one isn't food — it's a self-cleaning robot litter box, ahead of every...

🇬🇧 Kitchen · UK · August 2026

Ninja rules the British kitchen — until you have money

Ninja tops the shelf for nearly every UK cook. Ask as a buy-it-for-life premium cook, though, and it slips behind De'...

🇺🇸 Fitness & Outdoor · US · August 2026

“Fitness” means three different lives

One word, three shoppers, three products with nothing in common: designer leggings, running shoes, and a treadmill th...

🇬🇧 Fitness & Outdoor · UK · August 2026

Cross the Atlantic and Lululemon drops to fourth

The British aesthetic athlete's shelf leads with Sweaty Betty, Adanola and Gymshark, with Lululemon back in fourth. C...

🇨🇦 Fitness & Outdoor · CA · August 2026

On home turf, Lululemon only gets picked for the mirror

Lululemon is Canadian, and it shows — the aesthetic athlete's shelf is mostly Lululemon. But ask about walking throug...

🇦🇺 Fitness & Outdoor · AU · August 2026

Aussie “fitness” includes a camping cooler

Ask about staying active in Australia and the shelf fills with eskies and caravans. Leg day, apparently, is at the ca...

🌍 Overall · All markets · August 2026

Every country gets a different supplement brand

Toys and kitchen barely shift when you cross a border. Supplements are the opposite: four markets, four different bra...