CiteLadder asked Claude Sonnet 5.5 20 buyer questions about ecommerce platforms, three times each, in three conditions: from memory, with web search available, and told to search first. Shopify was named in most answers in every condition. This page reports what Claude said through the Anthropic API. It is not a ranking of which platform is best, and the Claude apps can answer differently.
What was asked
The 20 prompts were written the way a buyer might ask. They cover general picks, specific use cases, budget and free options, features, and comparison shortlists. Some examples:
- "What's the best ecommerce platform for launching an online store?"
- "Which platform works best for a B2B wholesale store with custom pricing?"
- "Give me a shortlist of three ecommerce platforms for a mid-sized fashion brand"
Other prompts asked about handmade jewelry, digital downloads, subscription boxes, adding a store to a WordPress site, and selling internationally. Each condition produced 60 answers. Another model listed the brands in each answer, and code did the counting. The requests gave no current date.
Brands Claude named from memory
With no tools, Claude named 97 distinct brands across 60 answers, about 7.8 per answer. The three most named brands took 29% of all mentions.
- Shopify appeared in 93% of answers and was named first 43 times. It was named in every run for 18 of the 20 prompts.
- WooCommerce appeared in 75% of answers and was named in every run for 15 prompts.
- BigCommerce appeared in 57% of answers. It was never named first.
- Squarespace (47%) and Wix (40%) completed the top five.
Run agreement was 66.7%. Asking the same question again often produced a similar list, but not the same one. Square, Etsy, Big Cartel, Ecwid and Adobe Commerce filled the rest of the top ten.
How often Claude searched when it could
When web search was available but not required, Claude searched in 2 of 60 answers, with 10 searches in total. In practice, this condition was close to answering from memory.
The brand picture barely moved. Shopify appeared in 95% of answers, WooCommerce in 78% and BigCommerce in 58%. Answers named more brands, 9.3 on average and 122 distinct in total. Gumroad entered the top ten in this condition at 22%.
What changed when Claude was told to search
When the system prompt told Claude to search before answering, it searched in all 60 answers and ran 269 searches. The answers got shorter on brands. Claude named 5.5 brands per answer and 67 distinct brands overall. The top three took 36.6% of mentions, so attention was more concentrated.
The top five stayed the same: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace and Wix. No brand left the top five and none entered it. Shopify remained the leader. It appeared in 85% of answers and was named first 36 times, with an average position of 1.6.
Lower in the list there was some movement. Sellfy (12%) and Payhip (10%) appeared in the top ten. Etsy and Big Cartel, both in the memory top ten, did not. Searched answers carried no inline citations.
What Claude searched for
Claude's queries read like a buyer's own searches. Many restated the prompt, and some compared named brands directly:
- "best ecommerce platform for launching online store 2025"
- "Shopify vs WooCommerce vs BigCommerce vs Wix pricing comparison"
- "Adobe Commerce vs Salesforce Commerce Cloud vs commercetools enterprise total cost of ownership"
Of all queries, 46.4% contained a year. 2025 appeared in 126 queries and 2026 in 1. The requests gave no date, so the year is the model's own assumption about the present. Also, 40.9% of queries contained the word "best". Several queries named a brand and a pricing term, for example "Shopify Plus pricing 2025 enterprise cost".
Which sites the searches returned
The most frequent result host was shopify.com, returned in 33 searched answers (55%). Next came ecomm.design (52%) and ecommerce-platforms.com (47%).
The rest of the top ten were mostly review and comparison sites: litextension.com, theretailexec.com, websitebuilderexpert.com, ecommerceparadise.com, technologyadvice.com, forbes.com and demandsage.com. Each of these was returned in between 25% and 38% of searched answers. Only one vendor domain, shopify.com, appears in the top ten.
What a brand in this category can take from this
From memory, Claude already has a stable shortlist for ecommerce platforms. Search did not change the top five. It mostly trimmed the long tail. A brand outside that shortlist should not expect search alone to move it in.
- Be present where searches land. Comparison and review sites made up most of the top result hosts. Being covered accurately on those pages matters.
- Publish pages that match the queries. Claude searched for "best" lists, year-tagged guides, pricing and head-to-head comparisons. Clear, current pricing and comparison pages give it something to find.
- Own a use case. Brands like Gumroad, Sellfy and Payhip surfaced around digital products. Specific prompts open room that general prompts do not.
- Measure repeatedly. Run agreement sat near two thirds, so a single check can mislead.
Brand shares in each condition
Share of the 60 answers (20 prompts, three runs) that named each brand. "Prompts named in every run" counts the prompts where the brand appeared in all three runs from memory.
| Brand | From memory | Prompts named in every run | Told to search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | 93.3% | 18 | 85% |
| WooCommerce | 75% | 15 | 70% |
| BigCommerce | 56.7% | 11 | 46.7% |
| Squarespace | 46.7% | 7 | 31.7% |
| Wix | 40% | 7 | 30% |
| Square | 31.7% | 6 | 21.7% |
| Etsy | 23.3% | 4 | not in top 15 |
| Ecwid | 18.3% | 3 | 16.7% |
| Big Cartel | 18.3% | 3 | not in top 15 |
| Adobe Commerce | 16.7% | 2 | 15% |
| Sellfy | not in top 15 | 11.7% | |
| Payhip | not in top 15 | 10% |
Sites Claude's searches returned
When told to search. Share of answers whose searches returned at least one page from the site.
| Site | Answers | Share of searched answers |
|---|---|---|
| shopify.com | 33 | 55% |
| ecomm.design | 31 | 51.7% |
| ecommerce-platforms.com | 28 | 46.7% |
| litextension.com | 23 | 38.3% |
| theretailexec.com | 21 | 35% |
| websitebuilderexpert.com | 19 | 31.7% |
| ecommerceparadise.com | 18 | 30% |
| technologyadvice.com | 17 | 28.3% |
| forbes.com | 15 | 25% |
| demandsage.com | 15 | 25% |
The 20 prompts
- What's the best ecommerce platform for launching an online store? (best overall)
- Which ecommerce platforms are most recommended by people who actually sell online? (best overall)
- Top ecommerce website builders right now, which one should I pick? (best overall)
- Most reliable platform to run a growing online shop long term? (best overall)
- Best ecommerce platform for selling handmade jewelry as a solo maker? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Which platform works best for a B2B wholesale store with custom pricing? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Ecommerce platform for an enterprise brand doing millions in annual sales? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best way to sell digital downloads and online courses from my own site? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- What platform should a restaurant use to sell meal kits online? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best ecommerce setup for a subscription box business? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- I already have a WordPress site, how do I add a store to it? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Which platform is easiest for a non-technical beginner opening their first shop? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Free ecommerce platforms that don't take a big cut of sales? (budget or free)
- Cheapest way to start selling products online with my own website? (budget or free)
- Open source ecommerce software worth using for a small business? (budget or free)
- Which ecommerce platforms have the best built-in SEO tools? (feature-led)
- Ecommerce platform that syncs inventory across my physical store and website? (feature-led)
- Best platform for selling internationally with multi-currency and multiple languages? (feature-led)
- Compare the top hosted ecommerce platforms on fees, features, and ease of use (comparison shortlist)
- Give me a shortlist of three ecommerce platforms for a mid-sized fashion brand (comparison shortlist)
Frequently asked questions
Does this mean Shopify is the best ecommerce platform?
No. It means Claude named Shopify in 93% of answers from memory and 85% when told to search. This study measures what Claude said, not which product is better.
Did Claude search on its own when it had the option?
Rarely. With search available, it searched in 2 of 60 answers. It searched every time only when the system prompt told it to.
Why do the search queries mention 2025?
The requests gave no current date. Claude added a year to 46.4% of its queries, mostly 2025, based on its own sense of the present.
Will the Claude app give the same answers?
Not necessarily. These results come from Claude Sonnet 5.5 through the Anthropic API at low effort. The Claude apps can use different settings and tools, so their answers can differ.
Track how often Claude names you
If you sell an ecommerce platform or a related service, CiteLadder tracks how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews mention your brand, where you appear against competitors, and the recorded answer behind every result.
Visibility over time
| Series | 8 Sep | 15 Sep | 22 Sep | 29 Sep | 6 Oct | 13 Oct | 20 Oct | 27 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acme Analytics | 27.9% | 29.6% | 30.2% | 31.8% | 32.5% | 33.1% | 34.2% | 38.4% |
| Northwind | 46.0% | 45.2% | 45.8% | 44.6% | 44.1% | 43.5% | 42.9% | 41.7% |
| Lumen | 30.4% | 31.0% | 29.8% | 30.6% | 29.9% | 29.2% | 28.8% | 27.5% |
412 answers to 120 prompts across 4 engines, week of 27 Oct – 2 Nov 2026
Brands
| Brand | Visibility | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Northwind | 41.7% | down 1.2 pts |
| Acme Analytics | 38.4% | up 4.2 pts |
| Lumen | 27.5% | down 1.3 pts |
| Fathom Labs | 16.9% | down 0.2 pts |
Acme Analytics by engine