AI assistants recommend chains over independents

October 6, 2026 · ShopsPlatform Team

A recent Vaer AI study found that AI agents recommend chain stores over small, independent businesses for most e-commerce scenarios about 90% of the time, according to an article at SearchEngineLand. Even if the search terms apply 'near me' or 'local', the big fish typically gets the linkage and referral if they have a local presence. Only if someone specifies 'independent' to the agent will the smaller players get any visibility to the requestor.

Our hot take: while this study doesn't necessarily apply to our target verticals, it's worth keeping a watchful eye on (which, as your trusted SEO guardians, we do). This could have some implications on the pizza vertical, for example, where Pizza Hut could (pardon the pun) eat the lunch of local competitors. Barber shops and salons could possibly face a risk here as well, as local franchises could outweigh individual shops.

One of the reasons we've partitioned our web platforms the way we have is to try to combat some of these hurdles. By acting as an authoritative domain for pizza/sandwich shops, barbers, salons and others, we position all of our customes as a sort of 'franchise of independents' that the search engines (and to a secondary extent, the bots) can go to in order to quickly and easily find what customers are looking for. SEO is the most important component of our platform, and we take it very seriously - our goal is to make sure you ARE represented and put in front of customers, and to make sure their robot friends know who you are as well.

We're doing everything we can to make sure you're ahead of the game for customer visibility - feel free to check out our verticals or contact us if you're looking for something most customized or bespoke to fit your needs, even if it's not on our list.