Perplexity Sonar
« Comment surveiller la pression d'huile sur une BMW E30 ? »
Sources read by the AI
- 6enligne.net
- reddit.com
- youtube.com
- mecatechnic.com
- cyl6.com
Four of the five sources are community spaces. Only one is a shop.
E-commerce
Does your store exist when the AI recommends a site?
A buyer asking "where can I buy this" no longer gets ten links, they get three names. We measured an entire e-commerce market to see which brands AIs actually name — and how often.
Report within 48 hours. Secure payment by Stripe.
- 40
- real questions
- 3
- AI assistants
- 3
- times each question is asked
- 360
- measurements in total
The study
One market measured: automotive spare parts
40 buyer questions put to 3 AI assistants, three times each — 360 answers analysed on a real e-commerce market. We counted every brand named in the body of the answers, not just the sites read as sources.
The brands AIs recommend in this market
360 answers · confirmed brands- 1driftshop.com29
- 2jrparts.fr27
- 3mecatechnic.com24
- 4schmiedmann.com22
- 5ecstuning.com21
- 6myclassicparts.com21
- 7auto-doc.fr21
- 8etsy.com18
The best-placed site in this market is named in just 8.1% of answers. The runner-up, 7.5%. In other words: no store is established in AI answers on this market. The ground is open — for now.
ChatGPT
« Kit jauge température d'huile pour BMW E28 ou E34, quelles marques existent ? »
Sources read by the AI
- vdo-instruments.com
- renditioncustom.com
- prosportgauges.com
- lewonze.de
Four manufacturers cited, three of them foreign. No French reseller in the answer.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
« Où acheter des pièces détachées rares pour BMW E30 en France ? »
Sources read by the AI
- piecesauto24.com
- driftshop.com
- pafclassic.com
- pieces-bmw.fr
- ovoko.fr
- lesanciennes.com
Six online stores for a single question. Across the 360 answers, none exceeds 8%.
What makes e-commerce different
In a services market, the buyer looks for a provider near them. In e-commerce, they look for the site that has the part — no geographic constraint, and often no brand in mind. That is exactly the situation where an AI answer decides the sale: three names offered, one click.
Two consequences our measurement makes visible.
AIs read communities first. Specialist forums, Reddit threads, video channels, artisan marketplaces. On technical questions, they cite four community sources for every shop. Your presence is therefore largely decided outside your own site.
A catalogue alone does not get you cited. A model recommends what it can describe: a clear speciality, a defined scope, verifiable statements. A store that "sells everything" gives it nothing to hold on to.
How we measure
No question contains your name. That is the condition for the result to mean anything: we look at whether the AI mentions you spontaneously, not whether it can describe you when prompted to.
- 01
40 questions written for your market
From your business, your website and your territory, we write the questions your buyers really ask — in their words, and in their languages.
- 02
3 AIs asked, 3 times each
Perplexity, ChatGPT and Claude, with web search enabled. Each question is asked three times, because an AI never answers the same way twice: a single measurement proves nothing.
- 03
360 answers analysed
We count your citations, your recommendations, where they sit in the answer, and every domain the AIs went to read to form an opinion.
The assistants we query
Three engines, all with web search enabled — under the real conditions in which your buyers use them.
Perplexity
Sonar
Built-in web search. The most source-driven engine of the three.
ChatGPT
GPT, consumer model
The model actually served inside ChatGPT, not an API variant.
Claude
Sonnet 4.5
Native web search, long and highly structured answers.
What you get
A report you read in fifteen minutes and turn into decisions.
Your citation rate
Out of 360 answers, how often your site is a source the AI actually read. Broken down per assistant.
Your recommendation rate
How often your brand is named in the answer, and in which position — being cited first is not worth the same as being cited last.
The competitors taking your place
A ranking of the brands AIs recommend instead of you. Not the ones you think you have: the ones the data points to.
The sources AIs read
The domains cited most often in your market — forums, comparison sites, trade media. That is where your presence is decided.
The questions where you are absent
The question-by-question detail, so you can see exactly which topics you do not exist on.
Where to start
The three or four levers your data points to: which domains to get cited on, which topics you are absent from, what is holding your site back. Derived from the measurement, not from general principles.
One audit, one price
€149excl. VAT
One-off payment. No subscription, no commitment.
- 40 questions written for your market
- 3 AI assistants, each question asked 3 times
- Full PDF report within 48 hours
- Competitive ranking
- Recommendations drawn from your data
- Invoice with VAT
Start your audit
Five fields. They are what we use to write your 40 questions — the more precise you are, the more accurate the audit.