Why AI recommends some Singapore brands and ignores others
Two Singapore brands sell the same kind of product. One gets named when a shopper asks an AI for a recommendation. The other never comes up.
The obvious explanation is size — bigger brand, bigger budget, more mentions. That is usually wrong. The real difference is simpler, and it is something you can fix this week.
Shoppers are asking AI for the unusual, not the cheapest
66% of AI-assisted shoppers in Singapore say they want to use AI to find unique brands and shopping experiences (Adyen Index 2026, conducted by YouGov, 1,041 Singaporean adults).
That is a strange thing to ask a machine for, and it tells you what these shoppers are really doing. They are not price-checking — Shopee does that better. They are asking for something they would not have found themselves.
So the question an AI is quietly answering is not “who is cheapest?” It is “which of these brands can I actually say something interesting about?”
AI can only repeat what is specific
A language model summarising your business has to produce sentences. If everything on your site is generic, the only sentences available are generic ones — and a generic sentence about you is worth nothing next to a specific sentence about a competitor.
Look at the difference.
| Nothing to quote | Quotable |
|---|---|
| “Premium quality at affordable prices” | “Hand-poured in small batches in Singapore, from S$38” |
| “Fast delivery island-wide” | “Order by 2pm, delivered next day across Singapore” |
| “Trusted by many happy customers” | “Used by 40 Singapore cafés, including three in Tiong Bahru” |
| “We care about sustainability” | “Refill pouches cut plastic per order by about half” |
The right-hand column is not better writing. It is more checkable writing. Every line names something a person could verify, and that is exactly what makes it safe for an AI to repeat.
Write the right-hand column about your own business. If you cannot, that is the finding — not a copywriting problem, a positioning one.
Specific is not the same as loud
This is where the “we need a bigger budget” assumption falls apart. A small brand with a sharp, specific story is easier for an AI to describe than a large brand with a vague one. Size helps an AI know you exist. Specificity is what gives it something to say once it does.
The brands that lose out are usually the ones trying to appeal to everyone. “We sell skincare for all skin types at good prices” competes with a thousand identical sentences. “Fragrance-free skincare formulated for Singapore’s humidity” competes with almost none.
Narrower is not smaller. Narrower is findable.
AI is also reading what other people say about you
Your own site is the main source, but it is not the only one. Review sites, directories, marketplace listings and press mentions all describe you too — and if those say something different from your site, an AI has no way to know which version is right.
That matters most when the facts have changed. An old price in a marketplace listing, a discontinued product on a directory, a delivery promise you updated last year: each one is a chance for an AI to describe you inaccurately, confidently.
So consistency is part of the work. The same core facts — what you sell, where you are, what it costs, how fast it arrives — should read the same everywhere you appear.
How to find out where you stand
Do not guess at any of this. Ask the AI directly and write down what it says. We set out the method, including what to do with the answers, in the AI shelf test. It takes about 30 minutes and gives you a baseline you can re-run monthly.
Pay particular attention to what the AI says about brands it does recommend in your category. That is a free summary of what it found quotable about them, and usually a very direct answer to what is missing from your own site.
What to change this week
- Rewrite one sentence on your homepage so it names something specific: a place, a material, a time, a number, a person you serve.
- Put your key facts in plain text — not only inside images or sliders. Prices, delivery times, where you are based, what you actually sell.
- Fix the oldest wrong thing about you online. Usually a marketplace listing or a directory entry with a stale price.
- Add the detail you think is too boring to mention. The batch size, the lead time, the neighbourhood. That detail is the quotable part.
- Say who you are not for. Nothing sharpens a description faster.
The technical layer beneath all this — product schema, reviews, and the files AI tools read — is covered in our Shopify AI search optimisation guide. And for how AI fits alongside marketplaces in Singapore, start with how Singapore shoppers actually buy in 2026.
Not sure what makes your brand quotable? Book an introductory call — that conversation is usually the whole fix.
Sources
- Adyen Index 2026 Singapore Retail Report. Commissioned by Adyen, conducted online by YouGov, March–April 2026. 1,041 Singaporean consumers aged 18+. The 66% figure is based on AI-assisted shoppers, not all Singaporeans.
Jessica Bong
Jessica Bong is the founder of Soodo, a Singapore-based Shopify development and CRO agency. She built and scaled her own eCommerce brand before starting Soodo, and has since audited 60+ Shopify stores. Jessica also teaches eCommerce at Equinet Academy. Her hands-on experience running a live brand gives Soodo an edge most agencies lack.
