Summary
Trustpilot is changing its business strategy to work more closely with artificial intelligence (AI) companies and online shopping platforms. As more people stop using traditional search engines to find products, they are turning to AI chatbots to help them shop. Trustpilot plans to provide its massive collection of customer reviews to these AI systems to help them give better advice to shoppers. This move is designed to keep the company relevant as the way people buy things online undergoes a major shift.
Main Impact
The biggest impact of this shift is the way consumers interact with brands. Instead of clicking through pages of search results, shoppers are now using "AI agents" to do the work for them. Trustpilot has seen a massive 1,490% increase in traffic coming from AI-based searches over the last year. By partnering with e-commerce giants, Trustpilot ensures that its human-written reviews remain the primary source of truth for these AI systems. This transition is expected to help Trustpilot reach a 30% profit margin by the year 2030.
Key Details
What Happened
Trustpilot CEO Adrian Blair recently shared that the company is actively seeking deals with large e-commerce firms. He explained that AI tools, often called Large Language Models (LLMs), need high-quality data to understand which businesses are trustworthy. Since Trustpilot holds millions of real customer reviews, it has become a vital resource for these AI models. In fact, data shows that Trustpilot was the fifth most cited website in ChatGPT earlier this year.
Important Numbers and Facts
- 1,490%: The growth in traffic to Trustpilot from AI search tools in just one year.
- 30%: The target operating margin Trustpilot hopes to achieve by 2030.
- 5th Place: Trustpilot’s global rank among the most used sources for ChatGPT in January 2026.
- Google’s Role: Much of this change happened because Google made AI search the default option for many users.
Background and Context
For a long time, people shopped by typing words into a search bar and looking at a list of websites. Today, that is changing. New technology allows AI to act as a personal shopping assistant. These assistants can find products, compare prices, and even complete a purchase without the user ever visiting a store's website. To do this job well, the AI needs to know if a product is good or if a seller is honest. This is why review platforms like Trustpilot are becoming more important to the companies building AI.
Public or Industry Reaction
The tech industry is moving quickly to adopt these "agentic storefronts." Amazon and OpenAI have already teamed up to put advanced AI into Amazon’s shopping apps. Walmart has a deal with Google that lets people buy items directly inside the Gemini chatbot. Shopify is also making it easier for merchants to sell products through AI interactions. While some marketing experts worry that they will lose direct contact with customers, many believe the increase in sales from AI platforms will make up for it.
What This Means Going Forward
In the future, shopping will likely feel more like a conversation. Instead of browsing, you might tell an AI, "Find me a high-quality coffee maker with great customer service." The AI will then use Trustpilot’s data to pick the best option. However, this creates a battle for control. Amazon is currently trying to stop outside AI agents from accessing its site without permission, as it wants to build its own assistant to keep control over user data and ads. Trustpilot believes that as long as people keep sharing their real-life experiences, their data will remain the most valuable asset in this new era.
Final Take
Trustpilot is proving that human feedback is still the most important part of commerce, even in a world run by machines. By embracing AI instead of fighting it, the company is turning a potential threat into a massive growth opportunity. As traditional search engines fade, the trust built by millions of individual reviewers is becoming the new foundation for how we buy and sell online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Trustpilot partnering with AI companies?
AI shopping assistants need reliable information to recommend products. Trustpilot provides the human reviews and ratings that these AI systems use to decide which businesses are trustworthy.
What is an "AI agent" in shopping?
An AI agent is a tool that can perform tasks for a user, such as researching products, comparing reviews, and even handling the checkout process within a chat interface.
Is traditional search engine use really going down?
Yes, more consumers are starting their shopping journeys directly on AI platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini rather than using standard search bars, leading to a decline in traditional web traffic.