AI shopping picks a different seller. Agents make free returns expensive.

In the fifteenth episode of Assistant to the CMO, Lexie Meskouris speaks with Will Nash and Harjot Singh about what happens when an AI shopping shelf quietly picks a different seller for a product you make.

Productrise ran the same shopping queries through Google's AI Mode and through ordinary search, in both the US and the UK. The first price shown in AI Mode averaged 21.6% higher, and where prices differed a different seller sat behind the listing about half the time. Will thinks a snapshot of a surface Google keeps changing is worth very little. Harjot stakes the opposite, that the shelf favours whoever looks like the place to buy, and that the premium attached to that is permanent.

The second half turns to Meta's new shopping agent and what Will thinks it breaks first. Generous returns policies are often priced on customers not bothering to claim, and an agent removes that assumption for free. The advice is small: check who the shelf says is selling your product, and read your refund terms the way a bot would.

Highlights of this Episode Include:

• The Shelf Chooses the Seller: Where prices differed, a different seller sat behind the AI Mode listing 49.6% of the time.
• The Headline Measured a Model That Moved: Will recalls AI Mode changing soon after publication, leaving the price number close to worthless.
• Canonical Beats Cheapest: Harjot stakes that Google optimises for the best place to buy, and that a premium for the canonical seller is permanent.
• Google's Defence Is a Non-Answer: The Shopping Graph is a data store, so it says what is available and nothing about what gets chosen.
• The Brand May Not Be the Shop: Harjot concedes the canonical place to buy is often a retailer with more evidence behind it than the manufacturer.
• Free Returns Were Priced on Apathy: Meta's shopping agent is live, and Will argues offers that assume nobody chases a refund are exposed.
• Two Things to Do This Week: Check the lead seller and price for your three best sellers in AI Mode, and read your refund terms as a bot would.

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New episodes of Assistant to the CMO land every Thursday.