TL;DR: Retail brands are in the midst of holiday shopping — but many are still optimizing for traditional search. With AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini shaping buying decisions before a customer ever lands on a website, visibility in AI citations is the new competitive edge. Structured data, consistent directory listings, and clear metadata now play a bigger role in discovery than ever before.
As shoppers turn to their phones and laptops to buy gifts, brands are busy optimizing their websites or offering promotions. But customers aren't just browsing the top links on search engines anymore. Instead, at least 54% of customers are reportedly now using AI for holiday shopping support. And they're asking conversational questions like:
"Where can I buy a winter coat near me?"
"What's the best brand for wireless earbuds?"
"Best gifts for 10-year-olds under $50?"
The AI-generatedanswers they get back from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are already shaping their purchase decisions. And this influence often happens before a shopper clicks through to a website — or it happens instead of them clicking through to a website at all.
It adds up to one thing: this holiday season, visibility in those AI answers — gained through AI citations — matters as much (or more) than site traffic alone.
Curious? Read on for the main takeaways from our retail-specific AI citations research, as well as to find out how retail brands can appear in more AI citations across the board.
1. AI citations are the new battleground for retail visibility
Yext Research recently analyzed over 265,000 citations from the top three generative AI models (ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity), covering more than 2,200 retail domains. The results were clear: about 87% of citations came from sources retail brands can directly manage or control, including websites, verified directories, and structured listings.
That's one point higher than the cross-industry average. So, retail marketers who are only focused on "traditional" website SEO are missing a huge part of the picture. AI is pulling from a wider surface area, and it rewards those brands who structure and maintain all of that information well.
2. Your site matters, but it's not the only thing AI sees
Most marketers know how to optimize their websites, of course. But AI systems don't stop there. They also pull heavily from third-party directories, like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Apple Maps: in fact, just ten of these directories account for over half of all directory citations in retail.
These aren't random sources. They're consistent, structured, and trustworthy in the eyes of AI. And they're increasingly shaping which brands show up in answers. If a brand's information is missing or inconsistent in these places, for example, AI is likely to skip a mention.
One surprising stat: Google's Gemini rarely cites Google properties. In our study, less than 2% of Gemini citations linked to Google-owned sources — a signal that no brand can rely on any one platform, even if it's part of the AI engine's own ecosystem.
3. AI and humans trust different sources
People still browse visually: scrolling Instagram, reading Reddit threads, and watching YouTube reviews. AI, on the other hand, pulls from data-rich, structured pages with clean metadata. That means a short, well-built, machine-readable page could theoretically "outperform" a beautifully designed, content-heavy local page.
Again, even smaller platforms — ones that customers don't think of as "go-to" destinations — regularly appear in AI answers. That long tail of citations helps models validate facts and build context. If your brand isn't present or well-organized across those platforms, you're invisible in the eyes of the algorithm.
4. To win AI visibility, treat your digital footprint like infrastructure
This holiday season, visibility isn't just about high-intent keywords or website traffic. It's about being seen and cited by machines that scan for clear, structured information.
Here's what AI is looking for:
Consistent formatting. Use schema markup, accurate metadata, and clean URLs.
Fresh and factual content. Keep listings and pages up to date with current hours, prices, and product info.
Structured listings. Think of directories as mini-homepages. They need the same level of care and accuracy as your website.
Entity alignment. Make sure your brand name, location, and other identifiers are mapped the same way across all platforms. AI builds its answers from these connections.
Citations = visibility
As more customers turn to generative platforms for recommendations, citations are becoming the new currency of visibility.
This holiday season, clicks will follow citations. The brands that win in AI won't be the ones with the flashiest websites — they'll be the ones whose data is structured, verified, and everywhere.
Want to see how your brand stacks up in AI search? Click here to get your AI visibility scorecard.
