ChatGPT never named 28% of 189 small and mid-sized Swedish online stores when asked where to buy what they sell, and Claude never named 29%, in a study by KLOTA, a Swedish marketing agency that sells AI visibility services. When a store was left out, the assistant pointed to one of Sweden’s 100 largest online retailers in 4 cases out of 10.
The same fortnight, Google said it is taking ads in AI Mode into international markets, and Reddit’s chief executive told investors that AI Mode does not drive traffic. Google also said its Gemini models helped advertisers generate over 1.5 billion campaign assets in the third quarter: by our arithmetic, about 16 million a day across the quarter’s 92 days.
Business Pill · Distribution Advantage
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on distribution advantage. It explains the general idea only and does not discuss KLOTA, Reddit or Google.
The key insight: In KLOTA’s test of 189 small Swedish online stores, ChatGPT never named 28% and Claude 29%. Reddit’s CEO says Google’s AI Mode does not drive traffic, and Google is taking ads in AI Mode into international markets and says Gemini helped make over 1.5 billion campaign assets in the third quarter: about 16 million a day, by our arithmetic.
Read together, the three reports describe three positions a business can hold in an AI answer: named in it, sent a visitor from it, or paying to appear in it. Each figure below comes from a different company and a different market, and none of them measures the others.
Of every 100 small and mid-sized Swedish online stores KLOTA tested on 4 November, ChatGPT never named 28 and Claude never named 29 in three buying answers each. KLOTA sells AI visibility services.
Named: Who the Assistants Recommend
KLOTA put three Swedish buying questions per store to ChatGPT and Claude, both with web search, on 4 November: 1,123 answers in total, the agency says. 19% of stores were named by neither assistant, and one store in five was named by only one of them. Claude named the stores in 47% of its answers and ChatGPT in 39%.
KLOTA links being named to home-page text, not to store size: 26% of stores with little text and no question headings were never named, against 6% of stores with at least 500 words and question headings. KLOTA says the data shows the two are related, not that one causes the other. Our full report is in Klota Study: 1 in 4 Small Swedish Shops Unseen by ChatGPT.
Clicked: What an AI Answer Sends Back
Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman told investors on 29 October that “The reality is, AI Mode does not drive traffic”, according to The Verge and AdExchanger, adding, as AdExchanger quotes him, “not for us and not for anybody, as far as I know”. Reddit’s own letter said daily users could fall by a low-double-digit percentage if October’s search trend continues. We covered the call in Reddit CEO Says Google AI Mode Drives No Traffic, Guides $1B.
Paid: Where the Ad Slot Goes
Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, said on Alphabet’s third-quarter call on 28 October: “Today we are announcing the expansion of ads in AI Mode into international markets, alongside multi-turn ads in AI Mode in the U.S.” He called it “taking our monetization footprint global for the first time”.
He also said: “In Q3 alone, Gemini models helped advertisers generate over 1.5 billion campaign assets, up over 7x year-over-year”. The 16 million a day is our arithmetic from that figure. Our report on the call is Google Takes AI Mode Ads Global as AI Ad Assets Jump 7x.
As we read the three reports, they show three separate positions in an AI answer: being named in it, being sent a visitor from it, and paying to appear in it.
As we read KLOTA’s figures, being named is not guaranteed by size or access: KLOTA found 98% of stores let the AI services’ robots in, and store revenue did not reliably change how often a store was named.
As we read Google’s and Reddit’s remarks together, the paid position is being built out while at least one large site says the click-through position sends it nothing; Google has published no traffic figure for AI Mode.
Philipp Schindler, Google, Alphabet Q3 call, 28 October 2026
“taking our monetization footprint global for the first time”
Three Implications
FOR SMALL ONLINE STORES KLOTA found stores with more home-page text and question headings were named more often, and says the link does not show cause.
FOR PUBLISHERS Reddit’s CEO says AI Mode does not drive traffic, and Reddit’s letter said daily users could fall by a low-double-digit percentage if October’s search trend continues.
FOR ADVERTISERSGoogle is expanding ads in AI Mode into international markets and adding multi-turn ads in AI Mode in the U.S., Schindler said.
The framework argues, describing the medium cycle of industry restructuring: “Search gives way to assistants.”
As we read it, the three reports here are measurements of that shift from three sides: the merchant asking whether it is named, the publisher asking whether it is visited, and the platform selling the space. The framework predates these reports and does not discuss KLOTA, Reddit or AI Mode ads.
What Is Not Established
The three figures come from different studies and statements and are not comparable as one measure. KLOTA’s study is a single run on 4 November, covers Swedish stores with SEK 3 million to 30 million in revenue, and KLOTA sells the service it measures, which it discloses. Huffman spoke about traffic to Reddit and, in his words, others as far as he knows; Google has not published a figure for traffic sent from AI Mode. Google did not give revenue from ads in AI Mode.
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In KLOTA’s test of 189 small Swedish online stores, ChatGPT never named 28% and Claude 29%, and a large retailer was suggested instead in 4 cases out of 10. Reddit’s CEO says AI Mode does not drive traffic, while Google is taking ads in AI Mode international and says Gemini helped make over 1.5 billion campaign assets in the third quarter, about 16 million a day by our arithmetic.
A note on sourcing. KLOTA’s figures are from its Swedish-language study page of 7 November 2026, in our translation; KLOTA sells AI visibility services. Huffman’s and Schindler’s words are as quoted in our earlier reports on Reddit’s and Alphabet’s third-quarter calls. The 16 million a day is our arithmetic. We did not contact the companies for this piece.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
