Article: eMAG shows up first in 80 % of AI-generated answers that list Romanian laptop sellers, while Altex usually lands second or third. That placement matters because more shoppers are asking chat-style assistants instead of scrolling through ten blue links, and the AI’s top recommendation often becomes the default destination.
Why AI answers are now the first point of contact
A few months ago the typical consumer journey in Romania still began with a search-engine results page (SERP). Today, large language models such as ChatGPT and others respond to questions like “where can I buy a laptop?” with a concise list of three to six retailers, already ordered by relevance. The shift from a list of links to a single ranked answer turns the AI’s ordering into a new kind of storefront window.
How the study was built
I fed 18 brand-free queries – for example “best place to buy a laptop” – to five popular AI engines and recorded which of the 13 most-visited electronics retailers appeared in the answers. The experiment did not track actual purchases; it only captured who the AI chose to name and where each retailer fell in the sequence.
Position outweighs sheer presence
All of the major chains appeared in at least one answer, but the real winner was the retailer that occupied the first slot. eMAG’s name led 80 % of its mentions, giving it a decisive edge in visibility. Altex, while present in most answers, was relegated to the second or third slot, which still draws attention but not the same level of click-through potential.
Rankings are inherited, not invented
The AI engines rarely generated fresh rankings. Instead, they echoed existing listicles, Wikipedia entries and other curated pages. One site, shopilo.ro, was cited more often than the official homepages of the biggest retailers. If a retailer does not feature in those upstream lists, it is unlikely to surface in the AI’s answer at all.
Niche specialists can punch above their weight
F64, a small shop focused on professional-grade cameras, appeared far less often than the giants. Yet when the query concerned that specific category, F64 took the top spot. In a niche where it holds authority, a first-position mention can drive disproportionate traffic despite a low overall mention count.
Reddit feeds the AI’s sentiment engine
A surprisingly large portion of the AI’s recommendations traced back to Reddit discussions. Human-generated threads about price, warranty and service quality are distilled by the model into the final ranking. Retailers that actively engage on relevant subreddits or encourage satisfied customers to share experiences there can therefore influence the AI’s output.
Visibility does not equal sales – but it is a strong proxy
The data set measures only who the AI names, not who ultimately completes a purchase. Still, being sixth on a list is a very different proposition from being first. Being first is the decision.
What retailers should do now
- Map where you appear – Instead of asking whether you are listed, audit the third-party lists and Wikipedia pages that AI models scrape.
- Own a niche – If you cannot compete head-to-head with the giants across the board, dominate a specific product segment and aim for the top spot in that category.
- Cultivate community signals – Participate in Reddit threads and encourage genuine reviews; these conversations feed directly into the AI’s recommendation engine.
What to watch next
- Updates to the underlying language models that might prioritize different data sources.
- Emerging AI-specific SEO guides that advise how to structure listicle content for better algorithmic ingestion.
- Any policy changes by the AI providers regarding citation of commercial sites.
The bottom line is clear: in a market where shoppers let an AI pick their next store, the order of that pick can dictate the flow of customers. Retailers that learn to influence the lists the AI reads will find themselves at the front of the new digital aisle.