Many UK high street retailers suffering from AI chatbot inaccuracies, Searchable research finds
Searchable, an AI visibility platform, has released research revealing how inaccurately the UK's three most used AI chatbots answer everyday questions about retailers on British high streets.
After prompting ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity with more than 72,000 questions and grading every answer against each retailer's verified information, the test results show that 64% of businesses had at least one false fact returned about them. The AI chatbots returned an answer to a question 98% of the time for queries relating to a retailer's brand identity, contact details, and location. However, one in 16 answers provided by the AI engines were false.
The most common false answer misplaced high street retailers into the wrong postcode, at a rate of one in 10. This occurred despite the test prompts giving clear identifiers on the town or city the business was located in and asking the tools to specify the locations of all relevant addresses. In 15% of cases where the wrong location was given, AI chatbots returned an address of a retailer that was 20 miles away or more. The median distance between a shop's correct location and the incorrect location given by an AI chatbot was over one kilometre.
AI chatbots also recommended the wrong website: around one in 15 of the chatbots' website answers pointed to a dead link, a lookalike, or a different business entirely. The tests also show AI chatbots attributed the wrong brand to a shop's name, at a rate of one in 40 answers.
Searchable Co-founder Chris Donnelly, pictured above, says "Overall, our research into this issue has shown that AI inaccuracies are more likely to impact smaller businesses than larger brands across multiple sectors. This can be partly explained by big companies having a larger pool of third-party sources online that provide accurate information about them. For a smaller bricks and mortar retailer, if their online visibility mostly centres around its website and a Google Business listing, that's a relatively thin trail of information for AI systems to learn from and to represent in their answers."
The analysis also shows that the levels of misinformation were unevenly distributed across the three large language models (LLMs) tested, with Perplexity returning inaccurate answers in 10% of cases, compared to 4% for ChatGPT and 5% for Gemini. According to a 2026 Rithium survey of UK-based and US-based online shoppers who already actively use AI products, 90% use LLMs for product research and comparison, and 53% use them to choose a retailer. Inaccurate AI answers risk leading customers astray from high street businesses when these tools are seen as trusted partners in the purchase journey, with 58% of those surveyed also saying they lose trust in a brand when AI provides the wrong product information.
Donnelly says that high street retailers can take relatively small steps today to reduce the likelihood of AI systems misrepresenting them: "Ensure your website and third-party business directories are up to date and clearly state your company's essential services. Beyond that, consider how local press mentions, trade association listings and customer reviews can help you show up more positively and correctly online. These are all factors that influence AI's interpretation of a brand."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
