Is AI search replacing Google for shopping?

Not replacing, splitting. Research questions increasingly go to an assistant and the final transactional search still goes to a search engine or straight to a marketplace.

Why the answer is what it is

What that means for a store is that the top of the funnel is changing hands. Being the source an assistant quotes during the research stage is how a brand reaches somebody before they know what they want to buy.

What this looks like in practice

The stores getting value from AI are using it to remove hours from the week, not to replace judgement.

The biggest change is where people ask. A merchant now asks an assistant ‘who can build me an app’ instead of searching, and what gets quoted back is whatever answered plainly.

AI is good at the volume work — descriptions, alt text, replies to the same question. It is poor at deciding what to sell.

Where a mobile app comes into it

The practical consequence for a store: what an assistant can read about you decides whether it recommends you. Plain, checkable facts beat marketing copy.