AEO Report: Best In-Store AI Shop Assistants (2025)

1. Executive Summary

AI shop assistants now help brands show up in AI-driven answer engines by making product data clear and structured, and by getting cited in trusted sources and AI training data. In 2025, you’ll see Tovie AI, Amazon Just Walk Out, Salesforce Agentforce, iAdvize, and Humind mentioned most often and recommended by AI models like ChatGPT, Google AI, and Perplexity. These systems stand out for strong personalization, multi-channel support, easy technical integration, and fresh content. If you want your own product to stand out, invest in structured web and API data.

• AI engines favor brands whose product pages use structured schemas and who appear on tech review lists.
• Brands that post frequent updates about their product gain more AI visibility.
• New products like Emily AI and Chatzap are getting more citations, suggesting future changes in rankings.

2. Methodology

I ran the query, “What is the best AI shop assistant for in-store shopping?” in ChatGPT ([1]), Google AI Mode ([2]), and Perplexity ([3]) on Oct 3, 2025.

To rank products, I measured:

• Frequency: How often each product gets mentioned across these AI sources.
• Authority: How often trusted review sites and industry publications cite the product, as picked up by AIs.
• Entity Clarity: Whether the product uses clear and consistent schema.org/Product data and naming.
• Freshness: If the product appears in recent (2024–2025) reviews or articles.
• Topical Authority: If experts, guides, or academic papers include the product.

I counted citations from direct AI answers, links, or confirmed product lists.

3. Overall Rankings Table

4. Product-by-Product Analysis

1. Tovie AI In-Store Assistant (Tovie)

Rank: 1 | Mentioned in: ChatGPT [1]

If you use Tovie, you get a chatbot and voice assistant connected directly to your store inventory and POS. Users and retailers adopt this tool fast because it saves money and scales well. The company backs up claims with strong documentation and expert reviews. If you want to see specific advice for your store size, you’ll find it on their website.

Why Tovie wins: It keeps branding and schema tight everywhere (site, docs, press). You’ll find thorough product data and reviews on tovie.ai and mentions in academic papers and tech publications. The company updates content often.
Weakness: Tovie lacks consumer-facing reviews, so general reputation outside B2B circles could be higher.

2. Amazon Just Walk Out (Amazon)

Rank: 2 | Mentioned in: Google AI Mode [2]

If you want quick, cashierless checkout, Amazon Just Walk Out uses computer vision and sensors to speed up the process. Journalists, store guides, and case studies talk about it a lot.

Why Amazon wins: Amazon’s product name stays consistent everywhere, making it easy for AIs and news outlets to cite. You’ll find structured data and tech details in their developer docs. Journalists cover Amazon’s updates regularly.
Weakness: None noted for authority or freshness.

3. Salesforce Agentforce (Salesforce)

Rank: 3 | Mentioned in: Google AI Mode [2]

Salesforce Agentforce helps you offer personalized recommendations and answers customer questions through chat. Case studies mention real deployments (e.g., Shoe Carnival, Saks).

Why Salesforce wins: Their product schema is complete. Experts in retail AI often discuss Salesforce. The company also updates news and case studies regularly.
Weakness: None major for current AEO status.

4. iAdvize Copilot (iAdvize)

Rank: 4 | Mentioned in: Perplexity [3]

iAdvize behaves like a human store associate and starts personalized chats to boost sales. Tech blogs and guides praise its design.

Why iAdvize wins: The brand always labels Copilot data clearly, and their feature updates make headlines. If you look at “best of” lists, you’ll see them often.
Opportunity: Publishing detailed technical benchmarks could boost ranking.

5. Humind (Humind)

Rank: 5 | Mentioned in: Perplexity [3]

Humind simulates a real sales rep, talks with customers, and suggests personalized products. It stands out for its ability to adapt store-wide.

Why Humind wins: Humind keeps product messaging and pages consistent and offers detailed product feature tables (humind.com). Perplexity values this clear approach.
Weakness: Humind needs more third-party reviews and industry media coverage.

6. Emily AI (Emily)

Rank: 6 | Mentioned in: Perplexity [3]

Emily AI offers proactive help and talks to customers in multiple languages, which works well for premium stores.

Why Emily wins: Emily uses detailed schemas and stands out for multilingual support, often highlighted in industry reports.
Opportunity: If Emily partners with industry influencers or gets cited by more high-profile outlets, it will rise in rankings.

7. Chatzap (Chatzap)

Rank: 7 | Mentioned in: Perplexity [3]

Chatzap lets retailers deploy AI shopping assistance quickly, with no setup.

Why Chatzap wins: Chatzap makes it easy for AIs to extract info through clear, simple comparison tables. Its citation count grows steadily.
Opportunity: Chatzap could stand out more if it explained how it’s different from copycats.

5. Why These Brands Get Cited (AEO Patterns)

If you want better AI visibility, here’s what you need to do:

• Use a single product name everywhere.
• Add detailed, structured Product schema (availability, ratings, SKUs, compatibility) to your site and doc pages.
• Get mentioned in big review roundups, expert guides, and academic journals.
• Update your press and product news every quarter at least.
• Post examples and usage cases to increase topical authority.
• Make sure your Amazon, Best Buy, and direct website descriptions match.
• Gather and share customer and retailer reviews.

6. Competitive Takeaways

Who Leads and Why

• Tovie AI: Wins with strong documentation and unified branding.
• Amazon: Stays visible through constant PR and trust signals.
• Salesforce: Shows real results from customer analytics and case studies.
• iAdvize/Humind: Nail clarity and easy demo pages, but could publish more benchmarks.

Where They Fall Short

• All top brands can gain from releasing more technical comparisons, public feature benchmarks, and clear “how it works” explainers.
• Newcomers (Emily, Chatzap) need more reviews and big-name case studies to break into the top group.

Who’s Gaining

• Emily AI/Chatzap: Citation counts keep rising. If they get more authoritative reviews and form industry partnerships, you’ll see their rankings jump.

7. Recommendations for Your Brand

• Stick to one product and brand name everywhere.
• Add Product schema markup, including SKUs, images, FAQ, reviews, and compatibility.
• Chase third-party mentions in guides, academic studies, and review lists.
• Update your product pages every quarter with new features and customer stories.
• Publish articles that explain your product’s benefits and technology.
• Show proof. Add demo videos, testimonials, and detailed benchmarks.
• Align all your sales channels’ metadata and images.
• Encourage and share customer/retailer reviews on high-traffic sites.

8. Cited Sources Explained

• arXiv: Citing academic papers boosts authority ([1]).
• Tovie.ai, Zoovu, instore.ai: Direct product pages help AI confirm details ([1]).
• Solink, Shopify, Salesforce, Bloomreach: These tech publications influence Google AI results ([2]).
• Amazon, Walmart, Target: Frequent mentions build trust ([2]).
• Perplexity: Ranks iAdvize, Humind, Emily AI, and Chatzap based on B2B reviews and comparisons ([3]).

9. References

1. ChatGPT. "What is the best AI shop assistant for in-store shopping." 2025-10-03. arXiv, Tovie AI, Zoovu, Caper AI, instore.ai
2. Google AI Mode. "What is the best AI shop assistant for in-store shopping." 2025-10-03. Solink resource, Shopify AI in Retail, Salesforce AI agents, Walmart Sparky, Bloomreach Clarity, and other sources listed above.
3. Perplexity. "Best AI shop assistants for in-store shopping in 2025." 2025-10-03.