266 businesses · Vancouver · October 2026
Point-in-time ChatGPT visibility research for Commercial Drive BIA. 266 businesses analyzed, 47% mentioned at least once, 53% not visible in tested responses. Prepared by CLIXERA for BIA outreach and community workshops.
This research examines how The Drive BIA businesses appeared in ChatGPT responses when consumers asked for local recommendations.
266 eligible businesses were tested across 1,644 questions. Each business received category-matched prompts designed to reflect the kinds of queries a consumer might actually ask.
This is a point-in-time benchmark collected on October 5, 2026. ChatGPT answers can change. This study measures which businesses entered the AI-generated shortlist at that moment — not future guaranteed mentions.
266
Businesses analyzed
1,644
ChatGPT questions asked
47%
At least one mention
53%
Not visible in test
47% of The Drive businesses (126 of 266) were mentioned at least once.
37% had strong visibility (appeared in multiple relevant responses), 11% had limited visibility (appeared once), and 53% were not named in any tested response.
Discovery questions (like "best florist in Vancouver") produced a 45% mention rate. Recommendation questions (like "Who should I see for a dentist?") produced a 35% mention rate.
47%
Mentioned at least once
37%
Strong visibility
11%
Limited visibility
53%
Not visible
Visibility varied by category. Arts & Entertainment performed best at 63%, while food & drink businesses had the lowest visibility at 38%.
These category rates show which types of The Drive businesses entered ChatGPT's shortlist most consistently in this test.
| Category | Businesses | Mention Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Food & Drink | 97 | 38% |
| Shopping | 68 | 50% |
| Health, Beauty & Fitness | 53 | 51% |
| Financial & Professional Services | 40 | 57% |
| Arts & Entertainment | 8 | 63% |
Below are sample ChatGPT answers from the test. These examples show which The Drive businesses were named — and which questions returned no The Drive businesses at all.
Businesses were sourced from the Commercial Drive BIA public directory. National chains, businesses without websites, and civic listings were excluded so the benchmark reflects local independent businesses.
This benchmark uses the 483 listings in the merged Commercial Drive BIA directory extract on October 5, 2026. The extract combined thedrive.ca and onthedrive.ca, then collapsed listings that were the same business.
1,644 ChatGPT questions were asked across 143 unique prompts. Questions were matched to each business's category and pinned to Vancouver at the city level.
Each business received approximately 6 questions. Questions were not averaged across multiple runs. This study used ChatGPT (OpenAI) on October 5, 2026.
Of the 483 listings, 71 had no owned website: 27 pointed to a Master House Media homepage, 21 to a Google search link, 10 to a Jack Randall homepage, and 13 to a menu, booking, or blog host. Another 124 were not eligible: 54 national or multi-location chains, 25 civic or institutional listings, 43 duplicate listings from the merged directories, and 2 directory category pages. Of the 288 eligible members, 21 could not be matched to a Vancouver Google Business Profile and were not asked. A+ Dental Clinic matched a Vancouver profile but was not asked, so it sits outside the 266 scored members. Questions were asked once each at temperature 0.2.
This is a point-in-time benchmark of the ChatGPT responses tested on October 5, 2026. This study uses the 483 listings in the merged Commercial Drive BIA directory extract from that day. Scores are the share of scored members named in those answers. ChatGPT answers can change. This is not a guarantee of future mentions, and it does not mean an unnamed business can never appear.
If a customer's shortlist is built in ChatGPT, neighbourhood independents that never appear may never get considered.
This research does not claim that appearing in ChatGPT causes a purchase, nor does it prove that an unnamed business cannot succeed. It identifies an emerging layer of local discovery that BIA members may want to understand.
CLIXERA can walk BIA members through these findings in a short workshop or lunch-and-learn. This page is the leave-behind — contact CLIXERA if you want to schedule a community session.
