It’s a brand new era of product discovery and fast-moving shoppers are starting their shopping journey with an AI conversation, not a click.
Nearly 90% of shoppers begin their search for new products online, and they are increasingly beginning their search with AI. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews are now part of the shopping journey, recommending products, comparing features and even initiating transactions.
Many fashion retailers are embracing AI in areas like virtual try-ons, fit prediction and personalized styling. But while front-end experiences are evolving, back-end infrastructure is lagging behind. Most brand catalogs weren’t built with large language models in mind and as a result, shoppers are struggling to find what they want, and brands are becoming harder to find.
This is where many brands and retailers are hitting pause.
Part of the hesitation for brands stems from the current murky regulatory environment. In the US, AI commerce is accelerating due to looser data policies. In the EU, the AI Act is introducing strict constraints around personalization, data usage and explainability. That divergence is forcing global brands to manage two incompatible systems: fast, flexible, AI-powered interfaces for the US and more deliberate, compliance-heavy journeys for Europe.
This has fashion brands and retailers stuck in limbo, unsure whether to move and, if so, in which direction.
But while the long-term AI road map is still taking shape, one thing is clear: the infrastructure that determines whether your products are surfaced in search is being built right now. Brands don’t need to feel pressure to go all-in on agents or automation. What they should be thinking about how to prepare, because when machines are the interface, visibility is a function of architecture.
AI isn’t waiting, even if brands are
Ecommerce accounts for more than 20% of overall retail in 2025 and continues to grow year over year, totaling nearly $1.5 trillion in sales. Even as online retail expands, the increase in AI-powered search is changing how consumers find and interact with brands. Traditional web traffic is decreasing and with it, retailers are losing access to the behavioral signals, demographic insights, and attribution data they rely on to shape strategy.
Without that visibility, it is becoming harder to understand where customers are coming from, what influences their decisions or how well marketing is performing. Discovery is still happening, but the path is different, and now more than ever, the brand isn’t always part of it.
Traffic from generative AI sources grew more than 1,000% between July 2024 and February 2025. On Amazon Prime Day 2025, generative AI traffic to US retail sites surged by 3,300% year-over-year, as shoppers used AI tools to compare prices, find deals, and get product recommendations. Visa also reported a 1,200% increase in AI-initiated retail traffic earlier this year, clear evidence that the shift is reshaping how purchases begin.
Meanwhile, Google’s AI Overviews are displacing as much as 64% of organic traffic in certain categories. That means fewer clicks, less control over how products are surfaced and a growing disconnect between what consumers see and what brands can influence.
Unlike human shoppers, AI agents don’t rely on visual cues or brand storytelling. They interpret structured data: real-time pricing, inventory, product specs, shipping details and reviews. If that information is missing, unstructured or blocked, the listing may never make it into the customer’s view.
Some brands are still assessing how fast to move. But waiting for perfect clarity or the right data point could mean falling behind on the fundamentals.
How to fortify without going all in
Even without a fully deployed AI strategy, brands can start future-proofing today by focusing on data integrity and infrastructure.
First, make sure your product catalog is clean and machine-readable. AI agents rely on consistent inputs, including price, availability, materials, fit and sustainability data to evaluate and recommend products. If your catalog isn’t structured, you’re less likely to show up in agentic environments, no matter how compelling the product is or how determined the searcher is to find it.
Second, treat conversational commerce as a pilot opportunity. Launching even a small test can immediately start generating new types of data. Instead of clickstreams, you’ll see what questions customers are asking, what products they’re comparing, and what barriers stop them from buying. Within a few weeks, that conversational data can highlight gaps in product descriptions, uncover overlooked trends, and even inform inventory decisions.
Third, pay attention to how your website handles AI-driven traffic. Many brands are seeing an uptick in pinging from agents and bots, which are early indicators that AI systems are trying to engage with product data. But many sites have been built to reject bots by default. That approach, once considered best practice, is now undermining visibility. Sites must evolve to be accessible to both people and machines.
Finally, prepare for discovery to start with prompts, not keywords. As shoppers shift to asking natural-language questions like “what’s the best waterproof winter coat under $300?” brands will need to ensure their data is formatted in ways agents can understand and match.
The new baseline
The global AI retail market is projected to grow from $7.3 billion in 2023 to more than $51 billion by 2030. That growth will be driven by foundational shifts in how product data is structured, how platforms communicate, and how shoppers are guided through the journey.
Fashion brands don’t need to overhaul everything at once, but they will benefit from laying the groundwork now. Brand visibility no longer hinges on marketing alone, it requires deliberate engineering. Start small, run a pilot, and use conversational data as a new kind of research lab. Those insights can sharpen messaging, improve merchandising, and inform planning into the holiday shopping season.
The brands shoppers see tomorrow will be the ones building visibility into their infrastructure today.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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