In an era where generative AI is reshaping consumer interactions and product discovery, Pattern has stepped up to provide Australian brands with invaluable tools tailored for this new landscape. The launch of two distinct offerings—a LLM Access Audit and a Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) Scorecard—marks an essential development in the ongoing evolution of eCommerce. These tools aim to help brands understand their visibility within the AI ecosystems that consumers increasingly rely on for shopping.
The need for such tools has become evident as consumer engagement with AI tools for shopping-related queries skyrockets. According to a Capgemini survey, a striking 58% of consumers now turn to AI for discovering and researching products, a significant increase from just 25% in 2023. This shift brings to light new challenges for eCommerce and marketing teams regarding the visibility of their digital content and how it’s interpreted by AI systems.
Merline McGregor, Managing Director at Pattern Australia, emphasizes the implications of these changes for brand management. “AI is fundamentally changing how consumers discover brands online,” McGregor states. “For the first time, brand visibility is being shaped by conversational engines rather than search algorithms.” This qualified shift requires brands to adapt their strategies to optimize their presence in this new AI-driven world.
Access and Crawl: The LLM Access Audit
The first tool—the LLM Access Audit—focuses on a critical aspect: whether AI bots can effectively access and interpret a brand’s online presence. This audit evaluates discoverability across major AI platforms, identifying which services are actively crawling a company’s website. In practical terms, it aims to uncover any technical or structural barriers that might prevent AI services from reaching essential product or brand information.
Brands have traditionally been diligent about managing their site visibility for standard search engines, but generative AI presents a different set of challenges. With a rise in conversational interfaces and summarized answers, users may not always navigate a conventional list of links to find what they’re looking for. Understanding this shift is crucial for brands aiming to maintain their visibility in an evolving digital landscape.
Scorecard Approach: The GEO Scorecard
The second tool, the GEO Scorecard, serves as a free assessment of how AI platforms like ChatGPT showcase products and brands. According to Pattern, this scorecard leverages proprietary technology and data from over 46 trillion commerce data points to provide a nuanced perspective on how large language models perceive and rank a business.
The output from this scorecard includes a comprehensive score that reflects a brand’s current standing in AI-driven commerce. Additionally, it offers competitive benchmarks and a prioritized set of actionable recommendations aimed at enhancing performance against rivals. These recommendations may span various aspects, including sentiment analysis and ranking within chat-based AI experiences.
This new focus on sentiment and description does introduce both risks and opportunities for marketers. Factors such as product detail pages, customer reviews, and third-party articles all contribute to how an AI model summarizes an offering, significantly influencing consumer behavior—from whether they click to a retailer, explore competitors, or abandon their search altogether.
Visibility in the AI Landscape
As McGregor points out, many brands are currently unaware of how their content appears—or fails to appear—in generative AI tools. The introduction of the LLM Access Audit and GEO Scorecard aims to illuminate this critical data for the first time. Marketers are provided with a clear roadmap to ensure their products are not only discoverable but also accurately represented through AI-powered search mechanisms.
Market Context: The Shift in Dynamics
The rapid rise of generative AI has transitioned it from an experimental phase to a staple in everyday consumer interactions. Brands are now re-evaluating how they structure and distribute product information online, considering how this content might be utilized in AI-generated responses that are often beyond their control.
Pattern’s innovative approach is reflective of a wider trend within the eCommerce landscape, where agencies and advisors are actively developing measurement frameworks designed to accommodate AI-driven discovery. The tools that once formed the backbone of search engine optimization are evolving to address the idiosyncrasies of generative systems, which necessitate new tests for access, citation, and comparative framing against competitors.
Company Footprint: Who is Pattern?
Pattern has established itself as a formidable player in the eCommerce and marketplace services sector. Claiming the title of the number one reseller on Amazon globally, the company reports sales exceeding USD $3 billion annually across 60 countries. With operations extending to major cities like Melbourne, Sydney, and the Gold Coast in Australia, Pattern maintains a substantial global footprint, employing over 2,000 individuals across 24 locations.
The LLM Access Audit and GEO Scorecard are now operational, available to Australian brands and retailers eager to gain insights into how AI platforms surface their products and brand information. By empowering businesses with the tools they need to enhance their visibility, Pattern is uniquely positioned to help them navigate the complex dynamics of modern eCommerce.