Google AI Overview vs ChatGPT: Which One Names the Local Shop? (2026 Study)

Study date: October 29, 2026

Google AI Overview and ChatGPT got the same 25 holiday shopping questions in Seattle on October 29, 2026. Local independent stores took 36.2% of ChatGPT’s store mentions but only 7.8% of Google AI Overview’s. National chains and brands took 70.3% of Google’s mentions, against 33.2% on ChatGPT.

Vancouver showed the same gap on local shops, though a smaller one. Local independents had 32.8% of ChatGPT’s mentions there and 15.4% of Google AI Overview’s. Google gave half its Vancouver mentions to holiday markets.

Perplexity sat in between in Seattle and matched ChatGPT in Vancouver. These numbers are what the AI engines returned. They are not Beket AI’s opinion or a ranking of stores. AI answers change over time, so read this as a snapshot.

Study detail	Value
Study date	October 29, 2026 (one evening run, 6:26 to 6:38 PM PT)
Locations	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Seattle, Washington, United States
Language	English
Engines	ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview
Questions	25 selected questions per city, plus 4 discovery prompts each audit added on its own
Answers recorded	145 (Vancouver 75, Seattle 70)
Sources cited	1,243 (Vancouver 654, Seattle 589)
Stores, brands, malls and markets named 2+ times	109 (Vancouver 32, Seattle 77)
Mentions of those names	759 (Vancouver 219, Seattle 540)

Google AI Overview vs ChatGPT: who names the local shop?

ChatGPT did, by a wide margin in Seattle. Here is each engine’s mix of store types, as a share of that engine’s mentions.

Seattle

Store type (our label)	ChatGPT	Perplexity	Google AI Overview
National and global chains and brands	122 (33.2%)	45 (41.3%)	45 (70.3%)
Local independent stores	133 (36.2%)	29 (26.6%)	5 (7.8%)
Malls, shopping centres and districts	65 (17.7%)	27 (24.8%)	14 (21.9%)
Unclear	34 (9.3%)	3 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)
Regional chains	11 (3.0%)	2 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)
Not a retailer	2 (0.5%)	3 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)
All	367 (100%)	109 (100%)	64 (100%)

Vancouver

Store type (our label)	ChatGPT	Perplexity	Google AI Overview
National and global chains and brands	42 (32.8%)	23 (35.4%)	8 (30.8%)
Holiday and craft markets	38 (29.7%)	17 (26.2%)	13 (50.0%)
Local independent stores	42 (32.8%)	22 (33.8%)	4 (15.4%)
Regional chains	6 (4.7%)	3 (4.6%)	1 (3.8%)
All	128 (100%)	65 (100%)	26 (100%)

Source: Beket AI market audits, October 29, 2026. Store types are our labels. Percentages are each type’s share of that engine’s mentions.

Across both cities, local independents were 35.4% of ChatGPT’s mentions (175 of 495), 29.3% of Perplexity’s (51 of 174) and 10.0% of Google AI Overview’s (9 of 90).

Which stores did each engine name most?

The top names show the same split. Google AI Overview’s Seattle list leaned on department stores and Apple. ChatGPT’s list mixed malls and Best Buy with a long run of local shops.

	Vancouver ChatGPT	Vancouver Perplexity	Vancouver AI Overview	Seattle ChatGPT	Seattle Perplexity	Seattle AI Overview
Answers recorded	29	29	17	29	29	12
Selected questions answered	25 of 25	25 of 25	15 of 25	25 of 25	25 of 25	10 of 25
Sources cited	109	424	122	95	421	73
Names with 2+ mentions	30	26	14	72	38	30
Mentions	128	65	26	367	109	64

Source: Beket AI market audits, October 29, 2026. Answers and sources from the answer log. Names and mentions from the market report’s per engine split.

Google AI Overview

• Seattle: Macy’s (7), Nordstrom (6), Apple (5), Westfield Southcenter (4), University Village (3), Pacific Place (3), The Bellevue Collection (3), Lululemon (3); 22 other names had 30 mentions.
• Vancouver: Vancouver Christmas Market (8), Circle Craft (3), Best Buy (2), Portobello West (2), Dilly Dally Kids (2); 9 other names had 9 mentions.

Only 4 of Seattle’s 27 local independents got any AI Overview mention: Wonderland Gear Exchange (2), Ascent Outdoors, Made in Washington and Bezel & Kiln (1 each). In Vancouver, 3 of 16 did: Dilly Dally Kids (2), Sports Junkies and Camelot Kids (1 each).

Some of Google’s chain mentions in Seattle were designer brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermès. One of the Seattle audit’s own discovery prompts asked about upscale designer boutiques. Those brands had 8 of Google’s 45 chain mentions. Leave them out and chains were still 37 of 56 Google AI Overview mentions in Seattle (66%).

ChatGPT

• Seattle: University Village (26), Best Buy (25), Westfield Southcenter (16), Nordstrom (15), REI (14); 67 other names had 271 mentions.
• Vancouver: Circle Craft (16), Best Buy (14), Portobello West (13), MEC (9), Vancouver Christmas Market (7); 25 other names had 69 mentions.

ChatGPT named more local shops by count and by share. In Seattle, KOBO Shop & Gallery (10), Archie McPhee (9), The Handmade Showroom (9), Ballard Consignment (8) and Modern Design Sofas (7) got most of their mentions there. Of Seattle’s 27 local independents, 10 were named only by ChatGPT. In Vancouver, Shop Makers and Novo Furniture had 5 ChatGPT mentions each.

ChatGPT also cited the fewest sources. It gave 7 Seattle answers and 10 Vancouver answers with no cited source at all.

Perplexity

• Seattle: REI (17), Best Buy (9), University Village (8), Pike Place Market (8), Westfield Southcenter (4), Archie McPhee (4), Pacific Place (4), Costco (4); 30 other names had 51 mentions.
• Vancouver: Circle Craft (10), Best Buy (9), Vancouver Christmas Market (6), MEC (4), Kaboodles (4), Sports Junkies (4); 20 other names had 28 mentions.

Perplexity cited the most sources, more than 420 in each city, but named fewer stores per answer than ChatGPT. Its top local names were Archie McPhee in Seattle and Kaboodles and Sports Junkies in Vancouver, with 4 mentions each.

Why did Google AI Overview name fewer local shops?

The data shows the gap, not the cause. Two things in it are worth knowing.

First, Google did not show an AI Overview for every question. In Seattle it answered 10 of 25. It skipped the questions about gift shops, toy stores, kids toys, clothing boutiques, home decor, jewelry, bookstores and bike shops. By our store labels, 125 of the 167 local independent mentions in Seattle went to gift shops, toy stores and clothing or jewelry shops. Google did answer two gift questions (“unique local gift shops” and “where to buy Christmas gifts”), so skipped questions explain only part of the gap. In Vancouver it answered 15 of 25, including both toy questions and the gift shop question, and local shops still had only 4 of its 26 mentions.

Second, Google’s overviews named fewer stores per answer: 26 mentions over 17 answers in Vancouver and 64 over 12 in Seattle. ChatGPT had 128 over 29 and 367 over 29. When an answer names only a handful of stores, the big names tend to fill it. Our posts on AI Mode vs AI Overviews and on how often Google shows an AI Overview look at what that means for local businesses.

What does this mean for a local shop?

A shop can be well known on one engine and absent from another. In this run, a local Seattle gift shop was far more likely to be named by ChatGPT than by Google’s AI Overview. That is why checking one AI engine can mislead you. It is also why being named in the answer matters more than the links under it.

Our roundup of nine local AI studies found engines disagreeing in other trades too.

From the same run, our Black Friday study found AI named Best Buy, not Amazon, and our Vancouver vs Seattle Christmas shopping study shows markets leading in one city and malls in the other.

How did we run the study?

We ran two Beket AI market audits on October 29, 2026, one per city. Answers were recorded between 6:26 and 6:31 PM PT in Vancouver and between 6:27 and 6:38 PM PT in Seattle. The location was set to Vancouver, British Columbia, and to Seattle, Washington. The language was English.

1. Questions. Each audit had the same 25 selected questions, with only the city name swapped. None named a store or brand.
2. Discovery prompts. Each audit also added 4 longer prompts of its own. In Vancouver they were about festive and craft markets. In Seattle they were about malls and upscale shopping. Their answers are included in every count, and we cannot separate them out.
3. Engines. ChatGPT and Perplexity answered all 29 prompts in each city. Google AI Overview appeared for 15 of 25 selected questions in Vancouver and 10 of 25 in Seattle.
4. Mentions. A mention is a store, brand, mall or market named in an answer. One answer can name the same store more than once.
5. Threshold. Beket AI’s market report lists only names with at least 2 mentions. Anything named once is not counted here.
6. Name variants. We combined spellings of the same name, such as Best Buy and Best Buy Canada, MEC and MEC Vancouver, or REI and REI Seattle Flagship. That took 35 names down to 32 in Vancouver and 84 down to 77 in Seattle.
7. Store types. We labeled each name as a local independent, a regional chain, a national or global chain or brand, a mall or shopping district, or a holiday or craft market. Those labels are our judgment. In Seattle, 12 names with 37 mentions were unclear to us, and 2 names (Tripadvisor and a mall developer) were not retailers.

How far can you trust these numbers?

Treat them as one careful snapshot, not a verdict. Our note on why one AI check is only a snapshot explains why.

• One run on one evening. Answers can change by day, by wording and by user. Black Friday deals and holiday markets change fast.
• Small shops are undercounted. The report lists only names with 2 or more mentions, and names mentioned only once are more likely to be small local shops.
• The 8 discovery prompts the audits added are in the counts. They lean toward markets in Vancouver and toward malls and designer brands in Seattle.
• The store-type labels (local, chain, mall, market) are our judgment, not a field in the data.
• Beket AI’s data gives names and counts by engine, not by question. So we can’t say which question produced which name.
• Seattle answers named far more stores than Vancouver answers (540 mentions against 219), so compare shares rather than raw counts across cities.
• Google AI Overview showed up for fewer than two thirds of the questions, so its numbers rest on fewer answers.
• A mention says nothing about prices, stock or service. We did not rate or rank any store ourselves.
• Google AI Overview’s shares rest on small counts: 26 mentions in Vancouver and 64 in Seattle. A few mentions can move a share by several points.
• Nordstrom and REI are national chains founded in the Seattle area. We counted them as national chains, not local shops.

What questions did we ask?

The 25 selected questions, asked on all three engines in both cities. [city] was Vancouver or Seattle. None of them named a store or brand.

1. best electronics store in [city] for Black Friday deals
2. where to buy a TV on Black Friday in [city]
3. best place to buy a laptop in [city]
4. where to buy a winter jacket in [city]
5. best outdoor gear store in [city]
6. where to buy hiking boots in [city]
7. best ski and snowboard shop in [city]
8. best gift shops in [city]
9. unique local gift shops in [city] for Christmas shopping
10. where to buy Christmas gifts in [city]
11. best toy store in [city]
12. where to buy kids toys for the holidays in [city]
13. best furniture store in [city]
14. where to buy a sofa on sale in [city]
15. affordable furniture stores in [city]
16. best home decor stores in [city]
17. best kitchenware store in [city]
18. best bookstore in [city] for gifts
19. best clothing boutiques in [city]
20. where to buy shoes in [city]
21. best shopping mall in [city] for Black Friday
22. best jewelry store in [city] for holiday gifts
23. where to buy video games and consoles in [city]
24. best bike shop in [city]
25. best sporting goods store in [city]

Seattle’s question 10 ran as “Where to buy Christmas gifts in Seattle”, with a capital W, because the audit had already written that question itself. The wording is otherwise the same.

Discovery prompts the Vancouver audit added on its own:

• “I want to go to a major festive market in Vancouver this December. What are my best options and how do they compare in terms of vendor variety and experience?”
• “What are the top holiday markets in Vancouver for buying unique, handmade local gifts?”
• “Where can I find the best holiday craft fairs and artisan markets in Vancouver this winter?”
• “Where should I go in Vancouver if I want to shop for local crafts, gourmet seasonal foods, and holiday decorations all in one place?”

Discovery prompts the Seattle audit added on its own:

• “How do the different major shopping centers in the Seattle and Bellevue metro areas compare in terms of store selection and dining options?”
• “I need to buy gifts that range from unique local Pacific Northwest products to standard retail brands. Which shopping hubs in the Puget Sound area should I target?”
• “What are the best outdoor shopping malls and retail districts in the Seattle area for a day of walking and shopping?”
• “Where should I go near Seattle if I want a concentrated mix of upscale designer boutiques and high-end department stores?”

How can a store check its own AI answers?

Beket AI runs the same kind of audit for a single business. It asks unbranded questions like the ones above on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview, then shows which names come up, how often, on which engine and which sources were cited. Running it again on later days shows how the answers move.

Any business can run its own free check at https://beket.ai. The free Beket AI audit covers 25 prompts across 3 engines. A store can also ask Beket AI for another run of this study.

About the author: Nur Rysbek is the CEO of Beket AI.