People look at their smartphones in lower Manhattan in New York City, U.S., May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

By Arriana McLymore

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Big retailers traditionally spend millions on attracting eyeballs for the holiday season. Now, they're looking to get noticed by something else - AI agents.

Most of this holiday season's projected $253 billion in U.S. online sales will happen through website visits or standard online searches that favor companies that spend big on search engine ads.

But chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google's Gemini have become part of the mix, with shopper-facing tools that can give product descriptions, compare prices, or allow purchases directly within large-language models as U.S. consumers increasingly use AI for advice on the best holiday stocking stuffers.

"We've seen brands that previously were putting out three or four new blog posts or articles a month, are now trying to do 100 or 200," said Brian Stempeck, chief executive at generative engine optimization platform Evertune.ai, which works with clients to make their websites discoverable by large language models.

The company charges "around $3,000" per month to its clients, which include apparel and shoe companies, for its services, Stempeck said.

Traditionally, retailers based their Google and Meta ad placements on phrases that users searched for or links they previously clicked.

Without the ability to advertise in the largest generative AI tools, companies are trying new methods, like posting more frequently on branded blogs or writing about their products on Reddit.

Big retailers are building websites that cannot be seen by shoppers, intended to be read solely by AI scrapers, automated data extraction tools that scour the internet for information.

The scrapers then feed information to platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini, which then offer suggestions on gifts, apparel and other holiday merchandise.

SMALL TRAFFIC, MORE INTENT

Traffic to retail websites from generative AI platforms is currently still a fraction of overall activity. ChatGPT referrals to Amazon, Walmart and eBay in October accounted for less than 1% of each site's overall traffic, according to data firm Sensor Tower. EBay said while traffic from AI sources is a small percentage of overall traffic, shoppers finding its links through agentic AI come to the online marketplace with high intent.

Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

But retailers clearly see an opportunity. Bed linen company Brooklinen is paying social media influencers to talk about its bath towels and comforters on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, Brooklinen Chief Operating Officer Rachel Levy said. AI scrapers pull information from the text of product reviews and audio transcripts on these posts.

Brooklinen has also submitted its $199 comforter for awards from publications like the New York Times' Wirecutter to boost its chances of appearing in AI agent responses.

Currently, traffic from agentic AI sources is “super small,” she said, because Gen Z, the biggest adopter of tools like ChatGPT, has less buying power than older generations.

Miami-based hair care company R+Co is buying ads on Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa based on the questions that customers are asking its Rufus agent, R+Co President Dan Langer said.

Google recently introduced features that help shoppers use AI to track prices and buy goods, a task that can only happen if retailers' products are easily found by the tech giant's scrapers. Its AI mode and Gemini chatbot consider numerous factors, such as store locations or retailer quality when referring links to users, said Lilian Rincon, vice president of product for Google Shopping.

Google is testing ads in AI Mode currently in the U.S., but not the Gemini app, the company said. Existing Shopping and Performance Max ad product campaigns are eligible to show up in AI mode through the testing, the company said.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on the company's October earnings call that shoppers who use Rufus are 60% more likely to buy products. Among large retailers, Walmart and Target both recently announced plans for apps to allow people to shop directly with chatbots.

(Reporting by Arriana McLymore; Additional reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by David Gaffen and Nick Zieminski)