The Albany Gazette - AI1000 Rankings Reshuffle in Q2, but Retail Challengers Hold the Lead

RALEIGH, NC / ACCESS Newswire / August 18, 2026 / ReFiBuy, the company that coined Agentic Commerce Optimization (ACO), today published the Q2 2026 edition of the AI1000, the first quarterly update to the category-defining benchmark it co-developed with Digital Commerce 360. The index uses catalog, traffic and momentum signals to score the Top 1000 retailers by online sales for agentic commerce readiness, showing whether each retailer's catalog is accessible, visible, gaining momentum and positioned to compete as AI shopping evolves.

Of the 1,000 retailers ranked, 972 changed position in Q2. The median retailer moved 35 spots, and 641 moved at least 25 positions. Traditional ecommerce leadership compounds over years. In AI shopping, nearly the entire board reshuffled in a single quarter.

Three findings define the Q2 edition

1. Retail challengers held the lead, even as No. 1 changed hands. Nixon, a watch and accessories brand ranked No. 722 by online sales, overtook Online Labels, ranked No. 814, by 0.03 points. Four of Q1's top five remained in the top five, and all five Q2 leaders rank outside the 100 largest online retailers. The pattern extends down the rankings: for the second consecutive quarter, only 10 of the 100 largest online retailers place in the AI1000 top 100, while half of the AI1000 top 100 sits outside the sales top 500. Scale alone does not determine leadership in AI shopping. Fast-moving retailers are jumping the line ahead of larger brands that have been slower to make their product data accessible to AI shopping agents.

2. AI traffic leadership is spreading beyond ChatGPT. In Q1, ChatGPT was the largest source of AI-referred traffic for 844 of the 1,000 retailers. In Q2, that number fell to 722. Over the same quarter, the number of retailers whose largest AI traffic source was Gemini doubled from 16 to 32. Perplexity-led retailers grew from eight to 21, while Claude-led retailers increased from one to 15. ChatGPT remains the largest source for far more retailers than any other engine, but a catalog tuned for one engine now has to perform across a growing number of AI surfaces.

3. The readiness bar is rising faster than retailers are clearing it. The AI1000 Index Average was 39.7 in Q2, compared with 42.0 in Q1, reflecting a more demanding environment as traffic spreads across more engines and selling surfaces. The Q2 results show the growing challenge of keeping product catalogs ready for AI shopping.

"We built the AI1000 as a quarterly index because AI shopping moves on a different clock from traditional ecommerce," said Scot Wingo, CEO and co-founder of ReFiBuy. "Q2 showed how much the market can shift in a single quarter and why retailers can't treat Agentic Commerce Optimization as a one-time project. Retailers preparing their catalogs now will enter Q4 with a real head start as holiday shoppers increasingly turn to AI agents to research, find and buy products."

The Q2 Leaderboard: A New No. 1, the Same Top 25

No retailer moved into or out of the top 25 this quarter. The same 25 retailers traded positions among themselves while the rest of the field moved around them. Eight of the Q1 top 10 remained in the Q2 top 10.

Categories Are Moving at Different Speeds

Rank movement varied sharply by category. Automotive Parts & Accessories climbed an average of 20.1 positions, while Flowers & Gifts fell 17.8, a spread of nearly 38 positions.

At the subcategory level, the split is even clearer: lawn and garden, tools, and fishing and hunting retailers posted some of the quarter's biggest climbs, while beer, wine and spirits, books, and musical instrument sellers were among its largest decliners. The project-and-parts side of retail is climbing the rankings faster than the lifestyle aisles. Fourteen of the 15 category leaders remained at the top of their categories, and six rank outside the sales top 500.

The AI Holiday Shelf Is Being Stocked Now

The Q2 edition arrives as retailers enter the final stretch before peak holiday shopping. Salesforce forecasts that 20% of 2026 holiday ecommerce traffic will originate from AI chat agents, according to its 2026 holiday predictions. Yet only 225 of the Top 1000 retailers have a detectable Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) endpoint, part of an emerging standard that allows AI agents to connect directly with merchant catalogs. Readiness is not a switch retailers can flip in November. The catalogs AI agents will use to compare and recommend products this holiday are being prepared now.

New This Quarter: The AI1000 Retailer Portal

The AI1000 Retailer Portal gives ranked retailers a direct view of their standing: current position, quarter-over-quarter movement, and the signals behind their score. The portal, along with the full Q2 findings and category analysis, is live at refibuy.ai/ai1000.

The AI1000 is published quarterly. Its methodology is refined as measurement across AI shopping surfaces matures; rankings and index values reflect the methodology published for each edition.

Digital Commerce 360's 2026 Top 1000, the retailer universe scored by the AI1000, is available at digitalcommerce360.com/product/top-1000-database.

About ReFiBuy

ReFiBuy coined Agentic Commerce Optimization in 2025, defining the operating discipline brands and retailers use to prepare product catalogs for AI-powered shopping. Its Commerce Intelligence Engine is a closed-loop platform that helps commerce teams evaluate, optimize, distribute, and monitor product data, turning live agent and shopper signals into continuous catalog improvements across every selling surface. Founded by ecommerce veterans from ChannelAdvisor (now Rithum), Walmart, and MikMak, ReFiBuy is building the commerce intelligence layer for the agentic era. Learn more at refibuy.ai.

Media Contact
Brian Chapman
VP, Growth
ReFiBuy
[email protected]

SOURCE: ReFiBuy

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(A.Johnson--TAG)