[AI shopping & agentic commerce]() / [Use cases]() / [Channel strategy]() [How it works]() [What you get]() [Scope]() [Start a review]() [AI shopping & agentic commerce]()[Proof & route]() # Choose your route into AI shopping: activate, buy, extend or build. A verdict for every AI shopping route, on your own catalog and traffic: switch it on, buy it, extend what you have, build it, or leave it alone. [Start with an AI shopping review]() [How it works]() Route verdicts As of October 2026 - ChatGPT via ShopifyOn for eligible US stores · buyers use your checkout **Active**Do first - Copilot checkoutSingle items only **Test**Validate first - Perplexity checkoutNo merchant route confirmed **None**Defer - AI visibility retainerReports mentions only **—**Not recommended One line per route, with a verdict and the reason. Leaving a route alone is a valid result. ## Sound familiar? - Every week a platform announces another way to sell through AI, and nobody can say which are open to you. - A vendor, an agency and your platform each recommend their own. - The cheapest answer might be a better product page, and nobody is paid to say so. Distribution is getting cheap or free, so the costly mistakes are building what a native route already does and paying a retainer to report mentions. ## What changes. ShowTodayWith the engine Announcements Chased as news Checked against your account: announced, accepted, allowed to check out Choices Made by whoever pitched last Activate, buy, extend or build, each with a reason Cost The license Build, run and specialist time, against contribution Reporting Mentions and screenshots Answers checked, referrals counted, a holdout where it counts ## How it works. 5 steps, 4 stages. - AI**2** - Rules and automation**2** - Your team**1** - Approval 1. 1 List 1. AI ### List every route and what it needs Reads each platform’s current documentation for eligibility, checkout limits and fees, and dates what it found. - Shopify - ChatGPT - Merchant Center - Microsoft Copilot - Perplexity 2. Rules and automation ### Check your account against each Your store, region, catalog and checkout are tested against every route. Announced, accepted and allowed to check out are recorded separately. 2. 2 Test 1. AI ### Run a small test on the real catalog Audits answers and runs sample baskets on the routes worth trying. 3. 3 Decide 1. Your team Approval ### Give each route a verdict Do first, validate first, defer or not recommended, with the evidence that would change the call. 4. 4 Revisit 1. Rules and automation ### Re-check when routes change A platform change re-runs the affected checks and flags what moved. New announcements re-check the verdicts ## What you get. Real work, every week. Activate, buy, extend or build Job Start with Build when Be found in ChatGPT Shopify’s native route Variants need custom mapping Help shoppers choose Your helpdesk or search vendor You need your own decision logic Pick compatible parts An existing configurator The rules are yours alone Business reorders Salesforce or Shopify B2B tools Accounts span ERP, portal and inbox Start with what you can switch on. Build only where the native tool stops. Does a retainer pay back? Illustrative Five hundred AI visits earn about $500 a month. Visits 500 a month, attributed Orders 4% convert, so 20 orders Incremental Half would have bought anyway: 10 Contribution 10 orders × $50 = $500 a month A $3,000 retainer Needs about 3,000 visits at these rates The arithmetic that keeps a small channel honest. Illustrative figures, with your own referrals in their place. ## How you’ll know it’s working. 1. Routes with a verdict and an owner Every route is switched on, tested, deferred or left alone on purpose. 2. Right answers on the routes you keep Accuracy checked on each one, not assumed from a feed being accepted. 3. Contribution against full cost, by route Referrals and orders, net of fees, build and support. Baselines agreed before we build. ## Works with what you have. Commerce - Shopify Search & AI - ChatGPT - Merchant Center - Microsoft Copilot - Perplexity - Search Console We configure first Shopify’s Catalog syndication and Knowledge Base, and Merchant Center, are free or close to it as of October 2026. We check which your account can use before suggesting anything else. We build when Complex mappings, exclusions or a distinctive buying experience justify more than a native route, and a test has shown demand. ## What a first build includes. Built in your accounts, around your team. Scope, fee and baseline agreed before we start. 1. 1 Design 2. 2 Build [Start with a review]() [Scope this build]() ### We build - A route register, with eligibility checked and dated - A verdict for every route, with the evidence behind it - A short test on the routes worth trying - A plan for what to activate, buy, extend or build ### We start from - Store, region and checkout details - Catalog and current feeds - Referral and order data by source ### From your team Owner Head of ecommerce Involves - Ecommerce - Growth - Finance - Engineering ## Questions teams ask. Is AI traffic big enough to matter? Similarweb puts direct AI referrals at 0.4% of ecommerce visits in its measured population, while Adobe’s July 2026 data show stronger conversion among AI-referred visitors on a different denominator. We size it on your own referrals. Will you recommend building something? Only when a native route or a vendor’s product can’t do the job. An improved product page, a quiz or ordinary search is often the least expensive complete answer, and we’ll say so. Who owns it once it’s running? You do. It’s built in your accounts, documented, with training for the people who run it. Ownership usually sits with your head of ecommerce. We can keep running it with you, or step back. How do we start? Usually with an AI shopping review: two to four weeks, a fixed fee credited to the build, and a plan that’s yours. If the job is already clear, we can scope the build directly. ## Part of your AI shopping engine. One of 13 use cases, in 5 parts. [See the whole AI shopping engine]() 1. [Found & right **3**]() 2. [Help choosing **3**]() 3. [Orders that complete **3**]() 4. [Buying on account **1**]() 5. [Proof & route **3**]() In proof & route - [**Search diagnosis**Know why your search traffic moved]() - [**Assistant holdout**Prove your shopping assistant earns its cost]() - **Channel strategy**You’re here Works with - [**AI answer accuracy**Find and fix what AI assistants say about your products]() - [**Checkout routes**Keep AI-referred sales whole, from answer to order]() See it at work - [**Also in**Growth & acquisition]() ## Pick the route worth taking. Start with an AI shopping review. [Start with an AI shopping review]() [**Talk it through first**15 minutes]() We reply within one business day. --- Source: [https://www.thekeating.co/use-cases/ai-channel-strategy/]() [Contact Keating & Co](mailto:nelson@thekeating.co) · [Agent guidance](https://www.thekeating.co/llms.txt)