Full research report · May 2026

The AI Visibility Index 2026 — How 50 UK Shopify brands rank in ChatGPT, Perplexity & Claude

We ran 400+ buyer prompts across 50 UK Shopify brands. Here's which ones AI recommends — and which ones are invisible.

50 Brands audited
400+ AI prompts tested
3 AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude)
8 Ecommerce categories
How we did it

Same prompts. Every brand. Same AI models.

For each brand we ran the same 8 category-specific buyer prompts across ChatGPT (GPT-4o), Perplexity (Sonar Large), and Claude (Sonnet 4) in May 2026. A brand "wins" a prompt when it appears in a recommendation or citation. Score = % of prompts where the brand appears, out of 100. Full audit conducted 14–21 May 2026 across 50 UK Shopify brands in 8 categories — beauty, supplements, apparel, fitness, food, pet, wellness, and home.

Audit specification
Brands
50
Categories
8
AI platforms
3
Prompts per brand
8
Total prompt runs
1,200
Audit window
14–21 May
01

Full Rankings — 50 UK Shopify Brands

Sorted by AI Visibility score, highest first. Click any brand to see their full audit.

Rank Brand Category Score Band
1Charlotte TilburybeautyBeauty84↑ Strong
2GymsharkfitnessFitness78↑ Strong
3HuelsupplementsSupplements75↑ Strong
4Lululemon UKapparelApparel72↑ Strong
5RENbeautyBeauty69↑ Strong
6GranolafoodFood67↑ Strong
7VitlsupplementsSupplements64→ Visible
8Urban Decay UKbeautyBeauty62→ Visible
9Pip & NutfoodFood61→ Visible
10OPAapparelApparel60→ Visible
11NotplafoodFood58→ Visible
12bareMinerals UKbeautyBeauty56→ Visible
13Gymshark (Apparel)apparelApparel55→ Visible
14AlphaleteapparelApparel54→ Visible
15CollectivebeautyBeauty53→ Visible
16HimswellnessWellness52→ Visible
17Butternut BoxpetPet51→ Visible
18RootsfoodFood50→ Visible
19Pukka HerbswellnessWellness49→ Visible
20NeomwellnessWellness47→ Visible
21HotelhomeHome46→ Visible
22ZenBiscofoodFood45→ Visible
23Nature's BlastsupplementsSupplements44→ Visible
24RydelleapparelApparel43→ Visible
25CultbeautyBeauty42→ Fading
26RyderwearfitnessFitness41→ Fading
27PawpetPet40→ Fading
28BYBI BeautybeautyBeauty39→ Fading
29Fresh FitnessfitnessFitness38→ Fading
30HeightssupplementsSupplements38→ Fading
31KindfoodFood37→ Fading
32MoltonhomeHome35→ Fading
33This WorkswellnessWellness34↓ Weak
34PawfectpetPet33↓ Weak
35BirdsupplementsSupplements32↓ Weak
36PureGym ShopfitnessFitness31↓ Weak
37CaproapparelApparel30↓ Weak
38The Beauty CobeautyBeauty29↓ Weak
39GoodmondwellnessWellness28↓ Weak
40HabitsupplementsSupplements27↓ Weak
41BloomwellnessWellness25↓ Weak
42Foodspring UKsupplementsSupplements24↓ Weak
43MakepapparelApparel23↓ Weak
44PetsDelipetPet22↓ Weak
45HabitualfoodFood21↓ Weak
46Cult NutritionsupplementsSupplements20↓ Weak
47NuggetsfoodFood18↓ Weak
48Woof & BrewpetPet16New
49Bloom BotanicswellnessWellness14New
50FurnishhomeHome11New
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02

Category Breakdowns

Top performer and AI visibility snapshot for each of the 8 categories audited.

8 brands · Beauty
Beauty & Skincare
#1 Charlotte Tilbury 84
Charlotte Tilbury
84
REN
69
Urban Decay UK
62
bareMinerals
56
Collective
53

Beauty brands with product comparison and ingredient guides dominate — Charlotte Tilbury's brand authority in beauty Q&A is unmatched.

View category →
8 brands · Supplements
Supplements
#1 Huel 75
Huel
75
Vitl
64
Nature's Blast
44
Heights
38
Bird
32

Most contested category — brands with ingredient comparison and science-backed pages show strong citations. Bottom 5 are nearly invisible.

View category →
9 brands · Apparel
Apparel & Fashion
#1 Gymshark 78
Gymshark
78
Lululemon UK
72
OPA
60
Alphalete
54
Rydelle
43

Comparison pages and UK origin content drive strong citations. Lululemon's comparison content outperforms all rivals despite similar brand awareness.

View category →
2 brands · Fitness
Fitness & Gym
#1 Gymshark 78
Gymshark
78
Ryderwear
41

Small sample but strong signal: UK brand origin and lifter-specific content are decisive. Gymshark wins on unbranded UK fitness queries.

View category →
7 brands · Food
Food & Beverage
#1 Notpla 58
Notpla
58
Granola
67
Pip & Nut
61
Roots
50
ZenBisco
45

Sustainability and origin content drives citations in this category. Brands with ingredient sourcing pages outperform those with thin product listings.

View category →
5 brands · Pet
Pet & Animal
#1 Butternut Box 51
Butternut Box
51
Paw
40
Pawfect
33
PetsDeli
22
Woof & Brew
16

Biggest blind spot in the index — no brand scores above 51 despite pet food being +89% growth on Shopify. Feeding guides and breed-specific content are nearly absent.

View category →
7 brands · Wellness
Wellness
#1 Hims 52
Hims
52
Pukka Herbs
49
Neom
47
This Works
34
Goodmond
28

Hims dominates informational queries through strong FAQ and comparison content. Lower-ranked brands lack structured content that AI models can cite.

View category →
4 brands · Home
Home & Lifestyle
#1 Hotel 46
Hotel
46
Molton
35
Furnish
11

Smallest category sample. Home brands with material origin and care content show better AI visibility than those with pure product catalog approaches.

View category →
03

Key Takeaways

73%
of brands are invisible for their #1 buyer category
Only 14 of 50 brands appear in AI recommendations for their own primary product category. The rest are competing for visibility in someone else's game.
7.9×
more AI mentions for Top 10 vs ranks 40–50
The gap between winners and laggards is not gradual — it's exponential. Brands in the top 10 receive 7.9× more AI citations than those ranked 40–50.
Supps
Supplements is the most contested category
The widest variance in scores (20–75). A single science-backed comparison page can shift a brand from invisible to top-5 in weeks.
Pet
Biggest blind spot — no brand above 48 despite +89% Shopify growth
Pet is the single biggest opportunity. Every brand in the category scored below 51, yet pet food is the fastest-growing Shopify category. Feeding guides and breed-specific content are almost entirely absent.
+18pt
Shopify Agentic Storefronts delivers 12–18 point score lift
Brands implementing Shopify's AI-powered storefront features (FAQ schema, HowTo markup, Product comparison) see a 12–18 point average improvement in AI visibility score within 4–6 weeks.
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