(Yicai) Nov 12 -- As Chinese consumers increasingly seek shopping advice from large language models, brands have started paying for visibility in AI-generated answers, the latest Double 11 shopping festival showed.

Brands have begun paying for Generative Engine Optimization services to appear in AI responses, while several large models are experimenting with adding e-commerce links to their answers, Yicai learned during Double 11, China’s Singles’ Day shopping festival that concluded yesterday.

Tests by Yicai found that LLMs such as Doubao and Baidu’s Ernie Bot proactively embedded shopping links to platforms including Douyin, JD.com, and Taobao during Double 11.

By contrast, Tencent’s Yuanbao and Moonshot AI’s Kimi were more conservative, providing purchase links only when requested by users. Yuanbao also displayed a disclaimer that said: “Third-party links are provided for convenience only; we are not responsible for the content.” Meanwhile, DeepSeek and Tongyi Qianwen have not yet shown similar e-commerce integration.

Brands in finance, education, consumer goods, and home appliances are setting aside budgets to test GEO, said Liu Wenming, co-founder and chief product officer of GenOptima, a GEO technology service provider. At least five brands from different industries have signed with GenOptima to try entering AI answer boxes, Liu added.

Companies offering GEO services told Yicai that the practice currently serves mainly for brand exposure rather than direct sales conversion, as tracking purchases through AI-generated content remains difficult.

Globally, AI platforms are moving toward integrating shopping. OpenAI added in-chat shopping capabilities to ChatGPT in April, enabling product purchases via external links, and in September launched a “one-click checkout” feature that allows users to buy from Etsy and Shopify directly within ChatGPT.

According to a Gartner forecast, search engine traffic will drop 25 percent by 2026, with nearly a quarter of search activity expected to shift to AI chatbots, underscoring the growing importance of AI platforms as new digital marketing channels.

Editor: Emmi Laine