The next battleground in sporting goods retail won’t be fought on shelves or search rankings – but in AI-generated answers. This column launches a multi-part 2026 strategy series examining how brands and retailers can compete in the age of algorithmic recommendations.
AI tools are taking over large parts of the customer journey. Not because platforms force us to, but because users themselves are driving this transformation. If the new shelf space is called “AI,” it becomes the responsibility of brands and retailers to fill that space intelligently.
Until yesterday the path was clear: Google. Search. Compare. Decide. Buy.
Today, something fundamental is happening.
AI sorts.
AI curates.
AI recommends.
AI validates.
AI advises.
And soon: AI buys.
The purchase itself still happens through the retailer – online or, if AI recommends it, in a brick-and-mortar store. But the decisive part happens long before that. The largest share of the customer journey – research, comparison, selection – is shifting away from brand and retail platforms into a system they do not own.
Consumers no longer browse a brand’s website.
They no longer filter through retailer categories. They ask their AI concierge. As naturally as a guest in a luxury hotel asks the concierge to secure the best concert tickets – except this concierge no longer stands in the lobby. It lives in the smartphone.
Take running as an example. Many consumers start with an affordable entry-level shoe. If they enjoy the sport, they run more often. More intensely. More ambitiously. Entry-level shoes and apparel reach their limits. There is no specialized retailer nearby. The consumer goes online and is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options.
So what happens? They open ChatGPT. They describe their training volume, pace, race goals, foot type. They ask for three specific shoe models – with reasoning. AI does its job: it sorts, filters, recommends. The user may follow up with a second prompt. AI validates the choice. Then the purchase is made. This is not science fiction. This is reality.
More than 800 million people were using ChatGPT weekly in early 2026, generating billions of interactions each month. Gemini, Perplexity and others are growing rapidly. The world is becoming accustomed to outsourcing decisions to machines through dialogue.
And now comes the defining question for the sporting goods industry: Who controls this recommendation? Are brands and retailers part of the answer? Or merely one interchangeable option in a dataset?
The new shelf space is the AI answer
Until now, brands fought for shelf space in retail, visibility in online shops and rankings on Google. Now, a new and invisible shelf space is emerging: the curated answer of a large language model.
In that space, there is no second page, no endless scrolling, no accidental discovery. If you are not mentioned, you do not exist. That shifts power. Information ownership moves. Pre-selection is taken over by the system. Differentiation no longer happens in the store – but in the dataset.
For brands, this means: Product data is no longer catalog material – it is the foundation for recommendation and training. Positioning must become machine-readable. Expertise must be structured, quotable and referenceable. The key question becomes: how does my brand become the answer?
For retailers, this means: Foot traffic only happens if AI recommends the specialty retailer. Local advisory expertise must be translated digitally. Service, specialization, community – everything must become machine-readable.
The question is no longer: “How do we rank on Google?” But rather: “Why does AI recommend us?”
And what does this mean for the sporting goods industry?
Anyone who still believes this can be solved with SEO buzzwords will soon have plenty of time to dream about the good old SEO days. Because others have already taken control of the customer interface – platforms like Amazon, for example. They are interacting with AI systems and filling the decision space with millions of products in Sports & Outdoor.
2026 is not a year for observation. It is a year for positioning.
The sporting goods industry is built on expertise, trust and performance promises. If brands and retailers do not inject this competence into the new systems themselves – through real collaborations, others will. And with it, they will take market authority.
Dream, or act? The better question is: who shapes the new buying process – and who is shaped by it? In the coming months, we will explore:
▸ How AI discovery works in sporting goods retail
▸ How brands become the preferred answer
▸ What role content, data and media will play
▸ How retailers and manufacturers can secure their position
The purchase will still happen through retail. But the decision is being made somewhere else. And that is exactly where this industry must be present. Now.
