This development will have significant implications for marketing strategy, consumer behaviour, and e-commerce models. Below we discuss what these new features are, how they work, and how marketers and C-suite leaders should respond to stay ahead of the curve.
What Are ChatGPT’s New Shopping Features?
The new shopping feature integrates product search and recommendations directly into the chat. When a user asks a shopping-related question, for example, “best noise-cancelling headphones under $200”, ChatGPT will surface relevant products that fit the query.
These results appear as interactive product cards showing item images, prices, star ratings, and purchase links, similar to the way in which Google Shopping presents products. Importantly, OpenAI explains that these recommendations are organic and not paid ads.
Every website or merchant is eligible to appear, provided that their content is accessible to ChatGPT’s web crawler. If the user clicks on a product card, a detailed sidebar opens with more information:
- Multiple buying options (with up-to-date prices from various retailers)
- Aggregate user reviews from sites like Amazon, Best Buy and Reddit
- A button to “Ask about this” product for follow-up questions
ChatGPT essentially shares a mini shopping portal in-context, helping users find, compare, and evaluate products without leaving the chat. Shoppers cannot complete checkout inside ChatGPT clicking the “Buy” button will redirect to the merchant’s website to finish the purchase. However, the discovery and decision-making process are handled conversationally by the AI.
How Do the New Features Work?
ChatGPT’s shopping function is powered by AI-driven search and data aggregation. The system first interprets the user’s natural language query to identify shopping intent and key preferences (for example, budget, use-case, style). It then pulls in relevant product data from across the web.
According to OpenAI’s ChatGPT search lead Adam Fry, the AI is trying to understand how people are reviewing a product, how people are talking about it, what the pros and cons are in order to make well-informed recommendations.
In practice, ChatGPT considers a mix of sources and signals, including:
- Structured product data (price, specs, descriptions)
from partner feeds and websites. OpenAI is working with unnamed partners to ensure pricing info stays current. In the near future, merchants will be able to submit product feeds directly to ChatGPT for even more up-to-date listings. - Online reviews and content from third-party sites
ChatGPT aggregates opinions from editorial reviews (e.g. tech blogs, buying guides) and user discussions (forums like Reddit) to assess sentiment and product quality. Users can even tell ChatGPT what types of reviews to prioritise for tailoring results. - User context and memory
Unlike a traditional search engine, ChatGPT can remember a user’s preferences over time. If you mention you only want sustainable brands or a specific style in prior conversations or in your profile, ChatGPT will factor that in. It builds a profile over time, learning your style, preferences, and needs to personalise recommendations.
This means results can become more relevant with continued use, creating a continuity in the shopping experience that static search results can’t match.
Once ChatGPT selects a few top products, it presents them in a visually engaging carousel. The interface was deliberately designed to include familiar elements like images, ratings, and pricing in a structured format, because users respond well to those cues. Notably, there are no sponsored listings unlike Google Shopping which often gives paid placements priority, ChatGPT’s results are purely algorithmic and unpaid.
This could make consumers perceive the recommendations as more trustworthy. However, OpenAI may explore affiliate arrangements down the line. In summary, ChatGPT’s shopping feature turns product search into a conversation.
Instead of manually sifting through pages of search results and ads, users can ask ChatGPT for suggestions, get a curated list of options with context, and ask follow-up questions like “Does this coffee machine work for espresso and cappuccino?” to refine their choice.
It’s a more guided, interactive approach to online shopping.
Why This Matters for Marketing Strategy
For marketing professionals, ChatGPT’s move into product search is a shift that demands our attention. It signals the rise of AI-driven discovery as an important channel alongside traditional search engines and e-commerce platforms. Here are key impacts on marketing strategy:
- SEO meets AI
Just as companies optimise for Google search rankings, there’s now a need for AI Search Optimisation – ensuring your products and content are visible to AI assistants. Any brand’s product could be recommended by ChatGPT, but only if ChatGPT can find and trust your content.
Marketers should verify that their sites aren’t blocking OpenAI’s crawler (OAI-SearchBot) and that product pages are easily crawlable.
Incorporating schema markup and detailed product information can help the AI correctly identify and compare your offerings. Consider providing data feeds to OpenAI when that program opens up. - No Pay-to-Play Placement
Because ChatGPT’s results currently cannot be bought (no ad slots or sponsored results), brands must compete on content quality and relevance. This levels the playing field and puts emphasis on robust product information, positive reviews, and strong organic reputation.
Marketers who have relied heavily on paid search ads will need to diversify their strategy. For instance, by investing in content marketing and PR that gets their products featured in authoritative reviews and “best of” lists (since the AI pulls from those). In the AI era, relevance is the new ranking factor. - Conversion Funnel Compression
ChatGPT could compress the typical buyer journey. A user who might have spent days researching across multiple sites can now get from query to decision faster with ChatGPT’s curated recommendations. This means marketers should be prepared for high-intent traffic spikes coming from ChatGPT referrals.
Ensure that when a user clicks through to your site (with the special utm_source=chatgpt.com tag on the URL) the landing page is optimised to convert that warm lead.
Analyse your web analytics for ChatGPT-sourced visitors and track conversion rates; early movers can gain an edge if they fine-tune the experience for AI-referred customers. - Brand Visibility in AI Answers
Becoming one of the few products ChatGPT recommends is like appearing in the top organic spot on Google, perhaps even more valuable given the absence of ads and the conversational endorsement by the AI.
Marketing teams should ask, “How can we become the recommended choice?”. This might involve encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews on platforms the AI scans, improving product ratings, and highlighting unique selling points that align with popular consumer questions.
It also means monitoring ChatGPT’s responses about your brand or competitors, if the AI provides incorrect info, be ready to address it (for instance, by updating content or FAQ pages that the AI can ingest).
Changing Consumer Behaviour in the Age of AI Shopping
These new ChatGPT features tap into a growing shift in consumer behavior: people are becoming more comfortable using AI assistants for everyday tasks, including shopping.
A recent study found that 41% of shoppers (and over 50% of Gen Z shoppers) have used AI tools like ChatGPT to research products, a number likely to rise as these tools become more integrated into search experiences. This trend has several implications:
- Conversational Commerce
Consumers are moving from keyword-driven search, “4K TV 55 inch cheap”, to more conversational queries, “What’s a good affordable 55-inch 4K TV for a bright room?”. ChatGPT encourages this natural language approach, which feels more like asking advice from an expert than using a search engine.
As a result, shoppers may expect more personalised, context-aware recommendations, and less patience for combing through dozens of results themselves. Brands that understand the questions their target audience might ask can tailor their content accordingly e.g., blog posts titled “Best TVs for Bright Rooms Under $500” that ChatGPT could cite). - Higher Trust in Unbiased Recommendations
Early feedback indicates users appreciate that ChatGPT’s product suggestions are not influenced by ads or sponsorships.
This perceived objectivity can increase trust, as the AI is seen as recommending items based on merit and fit. Over time, this could make consumers more loyal to AI advisors for purchase decisions, similar to how many now rely on Amazon reviews or Google’s star ratings.
However, it’s worth noting that AI is not infallible; ChatGPT can occasionally present outdated or mistaken information, for example, it might not handle a just-launched product accurately. Savvy consumers will double-check critical details, but as accuracy improves, the convenience factor may win out. - Reduced Friction and Expanded Discovery
By handling the research legwork, aggregating reviews, comparing prices, highlighting pros/cons, ChatGPT reduces the friction in finding the “right” product. This may lead consumers to discover new brands or merchants they wouldn’t have found via traditional search.
For instance, ChatGPT might recommend a niche direct-to-consumer brand alongside familiar retail options if it fits the query. This opens opportunities for smaller players to get discovered, but also means brands must be ready to fulfill demand from potentially global customers funneled by AI.
You should expect consumers to increasingly incorporate AI assistants into their shopping journey as a first stop for ideas and recommendations. Marketers should respond by ensuring their brand’s information and reputation are AI-ready as this critical discovery phase.
E-Commerce and Industry Implications
The integration of shopping into ChatGPT is more than just a new feature, it’s part of a broader convergence of search, e-commerce, and AI. Several wider implications for the industry are emerging:
- Battle for Search Dominance
OpenAI’s move encroaches on territory long dominated by Google and Amazon. Traditionally, a large share of product searches started on Google or Amazon; now ChatGPT is positioning itself as an alternative starting point. Google isn’t standing still, it has been testing an AI summary feature in its Shopping tab (“Researched with AI”) to summarise reviews and recommend products.
Likewise, other AI search platforms like Perplexity launched shopping capabilities that let users buy within their apps.
The race is on to provide the most seamless AI-assisted shopping experience. For marketers, this means multi-channel optimisation: ensuring your products are optimised for discovery on all major AI and traditional platforms. - Affiliate Models and Monetisation
One big question is how affiliate marketing and referral traffic will be handled in this new world. If ChatGPT sends a user directly to a retailer’s site to buy a product that it learned about from a publisher’s review, who earns the referral commission, the publisher, OpenAI, or no one? OpenAI’s Adam Fry acknowledged they are “experimenting” with different models and that high-quality recommendations come first.
OpenAI isn’t currently taking a cut for referrals, but given OpenAI’s ambitious revenue goal of $125 billion by 2029 (up from under $4B in 2024), it may explore affiliate partnerships or fees down the line.
Marketers should stay tuned for new revenue-sharing models that could emerge, and be prepared to adjust their affiliate strategies. For example, retailers might end up collaborating directly with AI platforms to secure favorable placement or ensure their affiliate tracking works with AI referrals. - Decentralisation of E-Commerce
AI-driven search could further decentralise e-commerce by breaking the dominance of any single marketplace. ChatGPT’s recommendations might send users to a brand’s own website, a big-box retailer, or an online marketplace depending on where the best combination of price and quality is found.
This means every online store, large or small, has a chance to compete for the customer’s click if they offer value. E-commerce businesses should focus on keeping their product data accurate (so AI reflects correct prices/stock), improving site speed and mobile experience (to handle inbound traffic from chat platforms), and perhaps offering compelling incentives for direct purchases (since an AI could present those as advantages). - AI-Assisted Buying Agents
OpenAI’s efforts are part of a trend toward AI agents that can not only recommend but also help execute purchases. OpenAI’s experimental “Operator” agent can already navigate websites and could eventually assist with adding items to cart or applying coupons.
It’s early days, but you can imagine in the near future a user might tell ChatGPT, “Find me the best deal on these running shoes and buy them in size 10,” and the AI handles the transaction. This would radically alter the checkout process and customer touchpoints.
E-commerce models must adapt to a world where the AI is an intermediary for transactions, possibly requiring new integrations (e.g., APIs for AI agents to transact) and a rethinking of the customer relationship (the “buyer” might be an AI agent representing the customer’s interests).
In summary, OpenAI’s shopping update could be leading the way for how AI might change commerce infrastructure. Companies that take notes of these changes and innovate accordingly will be better positioned as the e-commerce landscape changes.
Actionable Strategies for Marketers
Given these changes, what steps should marketing leaders take? Here are some actionable strategies to capitalise on ChatGPT’s shopping features and mitigate risks:
- Optimise for AI Discovery
Audit your website’s robots.txt and SEO settings to ensure the OpenAI OAI-SearchBot crawler isn’t blocked. Treat ChatGPT visibility like a new form of SEO. Provide comprehensive product information (titles, descriptions, specs, pricing) that the AI can easily parse.
Using structured data (schema.org for products, reviews, FAQs) can help ChatGPT interpret your site correctly. - Join the Feed Program Early
OpenAI is developing a system for merchants to submit product feeds directly. Sign up for the pilot program or any beta opportunity to feed your latest product data to ChatGPT.
Early adopters could gain an edge in accuracy and visibility of their listings. At minimum, be ready with a well-formatted product catalog if API or feed integration becomes available. - Monitor and Leverage ChatGPT Traffic
Start tracking ChatGPT as a referral source in your web analytics (look for utm_source=chatgpt.com in incoming URLs). Analyse which pages or products are getting hits. This data can reveal what types of queries or content the AI is surfacing your brand for.
Use those insights to further refine content, for example, if ChatGPT frequently sends traffic to your “gift ideas” blog post, consider expanding that content or creating related Q&A style posts. - Focus on Reviews and Reputation
Since ChatGPT heavily incorporates user reviews and ratings in its recommendations, nurture your product’s reputation across key review platforms. Encourage genuine customers to leave reviews on Amazon, Google, niche forums, or industry sites. Address negative feedback promptly to improve sentiment. A product with a strong rating and positive discussion online is more likely to be recommended by the AI.
Similarly, getting your product featured in reputable editorial roundups (e.g., a tech magazine’s “Top 10 Gadgets of 2025”) can increase the chances that ChatGPT cites those sources and picks your product. - Adapt Content for Conversational Queries
Revise your content strategy to cover the natural language questions consumers might ask. This could mean adding an FAQs section, writing blog posts that are question-driven, or even using your own chatbot on site to gather common questions. The language used in user queries (e.g., “best for __”, “how to choose __”) should appear in your content so that ChatGPT finds your site relevant to those questions.
Essentially, align your keywords with conversational phrases. For instance, include phrases like “best under $X”, “great for [specific need]” in your product descriptions if appropriate. - Prepare for AI-Enhanced SEM
While you can’t buy ads within ChatGPT, you might consider how your search engine marketing can complement or counter the rise of AI shopping.
For example, if certain high-value keywords see a drop in Google traffic because users are switching to ChatGPT for those queries, you might reallocate some budget from PPC to content creation or ChatGPT optimisation. Also, keep an eye out for any advertising opportunities OpenAI might introduce (they say product picks are not ads for). If sponsored options or affiliate deals emerge for ChatGPT, evaluate them quickly as a potential channel. - Enhance On-Site AI Capabilities
The more consumers get used to AI-assisted shopping, the more they may expect similar convenience everywhere. Brands can respond by implementing AI chatbots or recommendation engines on their own sites that mimic the ChatGPT experience. This could be as simple as an on-site chatbot that answers product questions, or as advanced as an AI-driven product recommender. By offering a strong AI-assisted experience on your owned channels, you both meet customer expectations and gather first-party data on their preferences.
Embracing the AI-Shopping Era
OpenAI’s new ChatGPT shopping features represent a significant leap in the fusion of conversational AI and commerce. By making product search more intuitive and personalised, this update is likely to influence where consumers turn for purchase advice and how businesses attract customers.
For marketing professionals and C-suite leaders, the takeaway is clear, AI-driven shopping is here, and it’s reshaping an already competitive market. Brands that adapt quickly – by optimising for AI discovery, monitoring consumer shifts, and evolving their marketing playbook – will not only protect their visibility but potentially gain an early-mover advantage in this emerging channel.
As we enter this new era of AI-assisted consumer decision-making, staying informed and agile is key. Leverage insights from official announcements and trusted tech sources to guide your strategy, and experiment with integrating AI into your own customer experience. The line between search, recommendation, and purchase is blurring, and marketing success will hinge on being present wherever those decisions are being made whether on a search engine results page or in an AI-powered chat.
In embracing ChatGPT’s shopping features and what they herald, savvy marketers can ride the wave of innovation to connect with customers in more meaningful, timely ways than ever before.
Sources:
1. OpenAI – Help ChatGPT discover your products (Official guidelines)
2. The Verge – ChatGPT is getting better for shopping (Interview with OpenAI’s Adam Fry)
3. WIRED – OpenAI Adds Shopping to ChatGPT in a Challenge to Google
