What is the average AEO score for e-commerce companies?

Based on our scan of 100 top e-commerce sites in February 2026, the average AEO score is 44.4 out of 100 (median: 48). Over half scored F (below 50), making e-commerce one of the worst-performing industries for AI readiness.

How many e-commerce sites have an llms.txt file?

Only 7 out of 86 successfully scanned e-commerce sites (8%) have an llms.txt file. Adopters include Target, Shopify, BigCommerce, Dollar Shave Club, LG, Dell, and Myprotein.

Which e-commerce companies scored highest on AEO?

The top 5 e-commerce sites for AEO readiness are Dollar Shave Club (87/100), WooCommerce (87), Casper (86), Away (85), and PrettyLittleThing (84). DTC brands and e-commerce platforms dominate the top rankings.

How does e-commerce compare to SaaS for AEO readiness?

E-commerce significantly trails SaaS. The average e-commerce AEO score is 44.4/100 versus 66.8/100 for SaaS. Only 9% of e-commerce sites scored A or above, compared to 30% of SaaS companies. E-commerce also has far lower llms.txt adoption (8% vs 28%).

What is the weakest AEO category for e-commerce?

AEO Readiness is the weakest category at just 37.9% of possible points, followed closely by Structured Data at 38.8%. Most e-commerce sites lack the machine-readable metadata and AI-specific optimizations that answer engines rely on.

E-commerce AEO Benchmark 2026

We scanned 100 top online retailers to measure how well they're optimized for AI answer engines. The results are sobering — the average score is just 44.4 out of 100, with over half earning an F.

Published February 5, 2026 · 86 companies scored · 17 verticals · Scoring methodology · All benchmarks

44.4

Avg AEO Score

Have llms.txt

FAQ Schema

51%

Scored F

Key Findings

E-commerce is 22 points behind SaaS. The average e-commerce AEO score of 44.4 compares poorly to SaaS at 66.8. Only 9% of e-commerce sites scored A vs. 30% of SaaS companies.
Over half of retailers scored F. 44 of 86 sites (51%) scored below 50/100. Major brands like Home Depot, Lowe's, REI, Sephora, Adidas and Zara all scored under 20.
DTC brands dramatically outperform legacy retail. Digital-native brands like Dollar Shave Club (87), Casper (86), and Away (85) lead, while traditional retailers like Macy's (12), Nordstrom (16), and Gap (24) struggle.
llms.txt adoption is near zero. Only 8% of e-commerce sites have adopted the llms.txt standard — less than a third of the SaaS adoption rate.
E-commerce platforms lead their own customers. WooCommerce (87), Squarespace (80), and Wix (79) score well, while the stores built on those platforms often score F.

Grade Distribution

How 86 e-commerce sites scored across FastAEOCheck's A+ to F grading scale.

B13

C13

F44

No e-commerce site scored A+. Only 9% earned an A, while a staggering 51% scored F (below 50). The median score of 48 falls firmly in F territory — the typical online retailer is unprepared for AI answer engines.

Category Performance

Average percentage of available points scored across all 86 companies, by scoring category.

Technical SEO

59.7%

Content Structure

58.3%

Content Quality

43.8%

Authority & Trust

42.6%

GEO Readiness

41.3%

Structured Data & Schema

38.8%

AEO Readiness

37.9%

Every category scores below 60%. The strongest areas (Technical SEO at 59.7%, Content Structure at 58.3%) are still weak compared to SaaS benchmarks. Five of seven categories fall below 45%, indicating systemic gaps in how e-commerce sites prepare for AI consumption.

Full Rankings

All 86 companies sorted by AEO score. Click column headers to re-sort. Click any company to view their full report.

#	Company	Vertical	AEO Score	Grade	GEO	llms.txt	FAQ

Showing all 86 companies · Scanned on February 4, 2026

Scores by Vertical

Average AEO scores grouped by industry vertical, ranked highest to lowest. Verticals with fewer than 3 companies are marked with an asterisk.

Vertical	Companies	Avg Score	Median	Range
E-commerce Platform	5	78.2	79	70–87
DTC / Lifestyle	11	64.6	72	10–87
Shoes & Accessories	1 *	63.0	63	63–63
Fast Fashion	4	62.8	64	38–84
Marketplace	6	53.0	56	29–72
Electronics	7	49.7	58	13–75
Beauty & Personal Care	6	48.7	50	12–81
Fitness & Wellness	4	44.0	43	11–79
Grocery & Food	5	42.0	52	9–64
Entertainment & Specialty	5	41.0	27	21–71
Resale & Recommerce	4	32.2	22	17–69
Luxury & Fashion	4	28.8	20	12–64
Fashion & Apparel	8	27.9	20	12–68
Home & Garden	8	27.4	26	10–51
Sports & Outdoors	5	24.2	13	12–70
Pet & Specialty	2 *	16.0	16	12–20
Value / Discount	1 *	16.0	16	16–16

E-commerce vs. SaaS

How e-commerce compares to the SaaS benchmark across key metrics.

Metric	E-commerce	SaaS
Average AEO Score	44.4	66.8
Median Score	48	70
Scored A or A+	9%	30%
Scored F	51%	14%
llms.txt Adoption	8%	28%
FAQ Schema	7%	22%

How does your store compare?

Run a free AEO audit on your own e-commerce site and see where you stand against these 86 retailers.

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Methodology

100 e-commerce companies were selected across 17 verticals including Marketplace, Fashion & Apparel, DTC / Lifestyle, Electronics, Beauty, Home & Garden, and more. Each site was scanned using FastAEOCheck on February 4, 2026. 86 of 100 scans completed successfully; 14 failed due to aggressive bot protection (including eBay, Costco, H&M, ASOS, and Lululemon).

The AEO score is a weighted composite of 7 categories totaling 100 points: Structured Data & Schema (20), Content Quality (18), Technical SEO (17), GEO Readiness (15), AEO Readiness (12), Authority & Trust (10), and Content Structure (8). A separate GEO score (out of 15) measures generative engine readiness specifically.

For full scoring details, see our scoring methodology.