Consumer shopping behaviour is shifting at speed. More and more shoppers are asking ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for recommendations rather than typing queries into Google. For retail leaders, that creates a new strategic question: Is my brand actually being surfaced when shoppers ask AI tools where to buy?
Marketing Signals’ new UK Fashion and Apparel AI Visibility Index analysed 59 UK fashion and apparel retailers across ChatGPT, Google AI and Gemini citations to find out, scoring each one relative to its UK traffic. Some of the headline findings include:
Harrods topped the index at #1 (36.3), driven almost entirely by editorial citations.
Whistles came second (24.8), outperforming retailers ten times its size on just 217k monthly UK visits.
Next finished last #59 (1.6) despite 21.6 million monthly UK visits, with Marks & Spencer at #54 (5.0) and New Look at #58 (2.2).
The bottom 10 retailers account for over 54 million monthly UK visits collectively, yet average just 2.9 in AI visibility.
To help retail leaders understand what separates the top performers from the bottom, Gareth Hoyle, Managing Director and Founder of Marketing Signals, has shared four practical strategies retailers can use to improve their AI visibility:
Get into listicles and best of articles. LLMs are trained heavily on editorial content, such as “best sustainable fashion brands UK”, “top rated workwear retailers” and “where to buy X” type articles. Being named in those pieces is one of the strongest signals you can build. Target the publishers that rank for those queries and make earning a spot in their roundups a core part of your PR strategy.
Build a presence on Reddit and forums. Reddit is one of the most heavily weighted sources in LLM training data. Authentic brand mentions in relevant subreddits, community discussions, and Q&A threads carry significant weight. You can’t fake this, but you can earn it by being genuinely useful in the spaces where your customers already talk.
Earn editorial mentions across the web. Unlinked brand mentions matter as much as backlinks when it comes to AI visibility. Journalists, bloggers, trade press and review platforms all contribute to the web of references LLMs draw from. A digital PR strategy focused on consistent, credible brand mentions, not just links, is the fastest route to improving your AI presence.
Sort your structured data and About page. Schema markup for products, FAQs, and your organisation helps AI tools understand exactly who you are and what you sell. A well-written About page also matters, as LLMs frequently pull brand descriptions and credibility signals from About pages when answering queries about who a brand is and what they stand for.
AI search is changing how shoppers find fashion brands faster than anything that’s come before it, and the retailers who treat AI visibility as a strategic priority now will be the ones who win the next few years. Building editorial presence, earning credible third-party mentions and getting the technical fundamentals right are no longer nice-to-haves; they are how brands stay visible in the next era of search.
