{"id":613064,"date":"2026-09-03T09:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613064\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:36:09","slug":"google-ai-mode-prices-differ-from-product-carousel-for-same-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613064\/","title":{"rendered":"Google AI Mode Prices Differ From Product Carousel For Same Items"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google\u2019s AI Mode rarely shows the same products as the Popular products carousel in regular search results, and when it does, the first seller listed is often different, according to new data from Productrise<\/a>, which sells organic product tracking for Google Shopping.<\/p>\n

Only 1.28% of products in the carousel also appeared in AI Mode for the same search on the same day. Among products that appeared in both, the seller listed first was different 49.6% of the time.<\/p>\n

The figures from the company\u2019s tracking database, which Google told Futurism<\/a> it hasn\u2019t verified, show that a carousel spot rarely carried over to AI Mode in this data, even for the same product on the same day.<\/p>\n

What They Tracked<\/p>\n

Productrise monitored over 2 million product listings across more than 100,000 regular search results and AI Mode responses from August 9 to August 31, 2026.\u00a0It conducted the same product-specific searches in AI Mode and regular search on the same day, in the US and UK.<\/p>\n

In regular search, the comparison only considers the Popular products carousel, ignoring other results modules.\u00a0In AI Mode, it incorporates the product listings displayed in the answer.\u00a0The company matched products from both views using Google\u2019s product ID and compared the first-listed offer for seller and price on each side.<\/p>\n

The queries are primarily focused on products that the company monitors on its platform, and its write-up doesn\u2019t describe them as a random sample of Google searches.<\/p>\n

Products Rarely Overlap<\/p>\n

When both AI Mode and the Popular products carousel showed results for the same query, the carousel displayed an average of 27.8 products, while AI Mode presented 3.9.<\/p>\n

AI Mode Shows Fewer Products And Little Daily Overlap<\/p>\n

Average products shown per query when both result types returned products.<\/p>\n

Popular products carousel
\n27.8 average products<\/p>\n

AI Mode
\n3.9 average products<\/p>\n

027.8<\/p>\n

Separate calculation: daily product overlap<\/p>\n

1.28%<\/p>\n

average daily overlap<\/p>\n

Products appearing in both result types for the same query and day, as a share of carousel listings carrying a Google product ID. Daily rates averaged across Aug. 9\u201331, 2026.<\/p>\n

Source: Productrise<\/a>, Aug. 9\u201331, 2026
US and UK product-focused queries
\n<\/p>\n

The 1.28% overlap figure represents a daily rate.\u00a0The company divided the products that appeared on both sides by all carousel listings with a product ID, then averaged that rate over the 23 days.<\/p>\n

Same Product, Different Seller And Price<\/p>\n

The first seller listed was a different merchant for 49.6% of the products that appeared in both AI Mode and the carousel. The company says<\/a> price and seller changes often happen together.\u00a0Prices were different on 38.1% of matched products, with AI Mode displaying the higher price 68.4% of the time.<\/p>\n

Same Product, Different Offer<\/p>\n

Among products appearing in both result types for the same query and day.<\/p>\n

Different first-listed seller
\n49.6%<\/p>\n

Different first-listed price
\n38.1%<\/p>\n

0%100%<\/p>\n

Among matched products where prices differed<\/p>\n

68.4%<\/p>\n

AI Mode showed the higher price<\/p>\n

This finding applies only to the matched products with different first-listed prices, not to every matched product.<\/p>\n

Source: Productrise<\/a>, Aug. 9\u201331, 2026
US and UK product-focused queries
\n<\/p>\n

Across all matched products, including the ones where the prices matched, AI Mode prices were on average 21.6% higher than carousel prices. Where AI Mode had the higher price, the median difference was 22.2% and the average was 88.5%. The company says<\/a> outliers, such as comparing a used carousel item to a new AI Mode item, pulled that average up. When AI Mode prices were lower, the median difference was 7.8%.<\/p>\n

When you click on a product on either side, a panel opens showing other sellers and their prices, so the first-listed offer is one of several for the same product.<\/p>\n

What The Data Doesn\u2019t Show<\/p>\n

The data only captures what was shown on the screen and doesn\u2019t include clicks or purchases, so it cannot confirm if shoppers bought at the initial displayed price.<\/p>\n

The data doesn\u2019t reveal why the two result types select different products or sellers.\u00a0Hugo Huijer, the founder of Productrise, wrote<\/a> that \u201cthe cheapest price is less of a factor in AI Mode,\u201d according to his interpretation of the pattern.<\/p>\n

Futurism<\/a> reported Google\u2019s response on September 2, where\u00a0Google told the outlet:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we haven\u2019t verified the accuracy of the claims in this report, all shopping results on Google Search, including AI Mode and the search results page, are powered by the same data source: our Shopping Graph. Shoppers can easily click into a product listing to compare prices for that product across retailers and choose the best option for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why This Matters<\/p>\n

The merchant a shopper sees first in AI Mode can be a competitor even when the product is yours.<\/p>\n

Merchant Center\u2019s AI performance insights report, which I covered in July<\/a>, provides an overview of how a brand appears in AI Mode and AI Overviews as a share of voice, calculated as a percentage of AI impressions.\u00a0Its help page<\/a> doesn\u2019t include any seller or price metrics, so the report won\u2019t specify which seller or what price AI Mode lists for a product.<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/p>\n

AI Mode is accessible with a single click from any product search.\u00a0It shows up on the search box, Chrome\u2019s address bar, and a tab above the results, performing the same search that the shopper entered each time.\u00a0Clicking it shows AI Mode\u2019s pick of seller and price for a product, which in this data was often a different seller than the carousel showed.\u00a0Huijer suggests this might favor brands that can\u2019t compete on price, assuming that more detailed feed data increases their chances of being\u00a0selected.<\/p>\n

The data doesn\u2019t test his prediction, but you can check your own products.\u00a0Search for top items in both locations and compare who appears first and at what price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s AI Mode rarely shows the same products as the Popular products carousel in regular search results, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-613064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}