We asked ChatGPT 60 shopping questions: who is recommended?

Shoppers now ask AI assistants “where can I buy this?” as often as they type it into a search box. So who does the assistant recommend: only the big marketplaces, or small stores' own sites too? To see this with real answers rather than guesses, we asked Turkish shopping questions and counted the sources shown.

How we measured

• Questions: 10 categories × 6 questions = 60 questions. Categories: hardware, coffee, cosmetics, baby, pets, women's clothing, jewellery, home textiles, camping and outdoor, natural food.
• Question types: in each category, 2 “where to buy”, 1 product or brand choice, 1 with a price, place or delivery condition, and 2 information questions. No question named a store or brand.
• Channels: each question was asked to ChatGPT three times (180 answers); to Google's AI Overviews once, with the first 20 asked twice (80 answers). All from Turkey, in Turkish, on 25 October 2026. All 260 answers were collected.
• Counting: we sorted the source sites shown in each answer (once per domain) by type: marketplace, large retail chain, price comparison, independent online store, brand site, forum, media, institution, social media.

ChatGPT answers showed 3.4 sources on average, Google's AI Overviews 6.8. ChatGPT ran a web search in 74 of its 180 answers.

Where the sources came from

The channels behave differently: ChatGPT leaned on store sites and chains, while Google's AI Overviews gave more room to forums, social media and video sites as well. Forum and social media sources didn't appear at all in ChatGPT's answers.

The type of question matters

Of ChatGPT's 60 answers to “where to buy” questions, 43% showed at least one marketplace, 57% at least one large chain and 30% a brand site. 82% showed at least one independent store or a site we didn't label.

Information questions (“how do I choose?”, “what is it for?”) look different: only 3% of ChatGPT's 60 information answers showed a chain, and none a marketplace. In Google's AI Overviews, 96% of information answers cited at least one independent or unlabeled site. Information questions are where guides and explanatory content compete, more than sales pages.

Answers aren't the same every time

When we asked the same question again, only 19% of the sources ChatGPT showed appeared in every round (average similarity between rounds 0.42; 1 is identical, 0 nothing in common). Google's AI Overviews were steadier: 55% of sources appeared every round.

The practical upshot: one screenshot of a single ChatGPT answer doesn't show your store's real position. You need to ask the same questions repeatedly and regularly; that's the only way to see change.

What it means for a store

• Small stores can be recommended too. A good share of the sources were independent sites; AI doesn't only show marketplaces.
• Sales pages and guides do different jobs. Store and category pages are cited in “where to buy” answers, explanatory content in information answers. A category page's copy helps with both.
• Measure with your own questions. The overall picture gives a direction; where you stand on the questions your own customers ask, in your own category, is a separate question.

This study laid the groundwork for Roigo's GEO Studio: GEO Studio uses the same method to ask ChatGPT and Gemini questions specific to your site, and shows which answers recommend you and who is recommended instead. You prepare the page copy in SEO Studio.