TL;DR

A study by SearchBrand.ai, which analyzed more than 1,500 queries on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity, reveals that 73% of Chilean consumers already prefer using AI over traditional search engines when researching products online. The problem: 67% of brands have no presence in these responses. Only 14% of companies account for 78% of recommendations. Days before CyberDay 2026, the gap between visible and invisible brands in AI is defining who sells and who disappears from the purchasing process.

Consumers no longer Google before buying: they ask AI

Five days before CyberDay 2026 (scheduled for June 1-3, according to the Santiago Chamber of Commerce), a silent change has already redefined how Chileans decide what to buy. The traditional search engine, with its ten blue links and paid ads, is losing ground to a new interface: conversation with an AI assistant.

The “Digital Chilean Consumer X-Ray”, developed by SearchBrand.ai, evaluated more than 1,500 purchase intent queries across four artificial intelligence platforms: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity AI. The categories analyzed were retail, technology, travel, and apparel, the four most in-demand verticals during CyberDay.

The main finding: 73% of surveyed consumers declared that they prefer to receive a direct answer from an AI assistant rather than navigate multiple websites or link search engines. This figure is consistent with other recent studies. According to an Ipsos and Google study published in March 2026, 66% of Chileans still use Google Search as a starting point, but now complemented by an AI layer that modifies the decision flow.

The numbers brands should read before CyberDay

The study yielded five findings that paint a clear picture of the situation.

The first is the visibility gap: 67% of the analyzed brands rarely or never appear in AI assistant recommendations when asked about offers, product comparisons, or convenient brands for CyberDay. Two-thirds of companies are invisible in the fastest-growing channel.

The second finding is concentration. 78% of the total recommendations issued by language models are concentrated in just 14% of the analyzed companies. Brands that already have technical optimization or consolidated topical authority capture almost all mentions. The rest compete for scraps of attention.

Among younger consumers (18 to 35 years old), the pattern is even more pronounced: 61% already use AI as their first stop to search for deals, compare prices, and ask for recommendations before buying online. And 58% of study participants admitted to changing their purchase decision after interacting with an AI assistant.

Hussam Sufan, CEO and founder of SearchBrand.ai, summarizes it this way: "Consumers no longer just enter keywords. Now they converse, argue, and ask for personalized recommendations. The purchasing decision is shifting to AI chats."

The CCS itself just confirmed the trend: Cyber AI debuts at CyberDay 2026

That consumers use AI to shop is no longer a hypothesis. The Santiago Chamber of Commerce turned it into official event infrastructure. On May 26, 2026, the CCS announced the launch of "Cyber AI", a generative artificial intelligence-based conversational agent that will function as a 24/7 advisor on the official cyber.cl website.

According to Carlos Soublette, CEO of the CCS, Chilean consumers "no longer just look for the lowest price, but also a fluid, fast, and frictionless shopping experience." Cyber AI will allow users to perform natural language searches and receive personalized recommendations that connect their needs with the offerings of the 572 participating brands.

Hussam Sufan, founder of SearchBrand.ai, in an interview with Radio La Clave about brand visibility in AI assistants

The CCS also projected sales of USD 540 million for this CyberDay, a 5% growth compared to the previous edition. E-commerce in Chile is expected to reach USD 9,000 million in 2026, with a penetration of 15% of total retail sales. But the question few are asking is: how many of those sales will pass through an AI filter before being completed?

The silent threat: why 67% of brands don't appear in AI

Felipe Almeida, co-founder of SearchBrand.ai, points to a technical cause: "Many companies still don't understand that if their websites are not optimized for AI crawlers to read and understand them, they start to disappear from the customer's mental purchase process."

The problem has layers. The first is that language models don't browse the web like a human. They don't click buttons, don't execute JavaScript, or interpret product images. They read plain text, metadata, and structured data. An e-commerce site with product pages based on images and without complete textual descriptions is, for an AI, a blank page.

The second layer is the absence of topical authority. Language models prioritize sources they consider reliable: sites with original content, media mentions, structured data, and presence in industry directories. Brands that invested in quality content and their external digital footprint have an advantage. Those that rely solely on paid advertising and social media are off the radar. A study by Diario Estrategia confirms this: 47% of consumers already turn to AI for research before buying, and 68% of frequent users trust the information they receive.

A concrete example: Tenpo, the Chilean fintech, worked with SearchBrand.ai to measure and improve its presence in AI assistants. After implementing technical optimizations on its site (structured data, conversational content, and natural language FAQs), Tenpo went from appearing in 2 out of 25 relevant questions to being mentioned in 15 out of 25. The case demonstrates that visibility in AI can be built with methodology, and that the results are measurable.

At the CCS seminar on AI and GEO held on May 14, 2026, specialists recommended four concrete actions:

Technical actions validated by the CCS to improve AI visibility

  1. Create self-sufficient descriptive tabs on product pages, with complete textual context (images and dynamic elements are not indexed by language models)
  2. Add FAQ sections with conversational and natural search intent language
  3. Implement JSON-LD schemas under the Schema.org standard so that algorithms understand prices, inventories, and ratings
  4. Install an llms.txt file in the root directory of the site as a guide for AI conversational agents

The positioning window is closing fast

The data from the SearchBrand.ai study coincides with a global trend that is accelerating. During eCommerce Day Chile 2026, held on April 9, experts detailed that e-commerce queries assisted by AI grew by 551% during the Look Week event of 2026. This type of growth is not linear. It is exponential, and brands that arrive late will compete against already consolidated positions.

A NubeCommerce 2026 report (Tiendanube) confirmed that 56% of online stores in Chile already operate with some artificial intelligence component. And 17.5% of respondents anticipate that purchases driven by autonomous AI agents will be the most impactful technology this year.

The SearchBrand.ai platform allows brands to measure this visibility in real time: in which questions they appear, what language models say about them, and how they compare against their competitors. The platform's AI Scoring provides an index from 0 to 100 that functions as an AI visibility KPI, comparable over time and between brands.

For companies participating in this CyberDay, the message is clear. Consumers are already using AI to filter brands before buying. The 572 companies participating in the event will compete not only on price and discount, but also on appearing in the answer when a consumer asks ChatGPT: "Where can I find the best CyberDay deals?"

Sources and Methodology

This article is based on the "Digital Chilean Consumer X-Ray", a study developed by SearchBrand.ai which analyzed more than 1,500 simulated purchase intent queries on ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), Claude (Anthropic), and Perplexity AI. The categories evaluated were retail, technology, travel, and apparel. The data was complemented with public sources from the Santiago Chamber of Commerce, eCommerce Day Chile 2026, and industry reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Chilean consumers use artificial intelligence for online shopping?

According to a SearchBrand.ai study that analyzed more than 1,500 queries on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity, 73% of Chilean consumers prefer to use AI assistants rather than browse multiple websites when looking for products and online offers.

What percentage of Chilean brands appear in AI recommendations?

Only 14% of the analyzed companies concentrate 78% of the recommendations generated by AI assistants. 67% of the evaluated brands have low or no presence in the responses of ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI platforms.

Does artificial intelligence influence purchasing decisions during CyberDay?

Yes. 58% of consumers recognize having changed their purchase decision after interacting with AI recommendations. This percentage is higher among users aged 18 to 35, where 61% use AI as their first option to compare prices and ask for recommendations.

What is AEO and why is it important for e-commerce?

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the discipline that optimizes a brand's presence in the responses of AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Unlike traditional SEO, which seeks to position in Google results, AEO focuses on getting AI to mention and recommend the brand when a consumer asks conversational questions.

How can a brand improve its visibility in AI assistants?

Brands can improve their visibility by implementing JSON-LD structured data on their sites, creating content in a question-and-answer format with natural language, publishing an llms.txt file in their root directory, and ensuring that their product pages have complete textual descriptions that language models can read.