OpenAI has recently introduced a new shopping feature within ChatGPT that could change how people discover and compare products online. While it’s still early days, this update is a useful development to keep on the radar, particularly for brands operating in ecommerce or product-driven industries.
What’s New with ChatGPT’s Shopping Function
ChatGPT can now recommend products based on relevance rather than advertising across a wide range of categories. These include beauty, home goods, fashion, electronics and more. The tool provides clean, ad-free product listings with useful information like pricing, reviews, and direct links to retailers.
A few key points:
- It’s available globally to all users, even those not logged in
- The results are not sponsored, and OpenAI doesn’t collect commissions
- Recommendations are generated from real product descriptions, customer feedback, and editorial reviews
This marks a shift away from traditional models where paid listings and SEO tactics can often influence what people see first.
Why It Matters for Digital Marketing
For brands, this change highlights a broader move towards content that genuinely helps users, not just content that performs well in algorithms. With ChatGPT now part of the discovery phase for online shopping, the type of content that’s most likely to surface includes:
- Detailed, accurate product descriptions
- Balanced reviews and comparisons
- Clear explanations of use cases or benefits
In other words, content that supports real decision-making will matter more than ever.
Shopify and ChatGPT: A Smart Ecommerce Partnership
A key player in this evolving space is Shopify, which has partnered with OpenAI and ChatGPT in several ways to improve the ecommerce experience. Merchants using Shopify can now integrate ChatGPT-powered features to support things like customer service, product discovery, and conversational shopping experiences. This not only enhances the buying journey for customers but also empowers brands to deliver more tailored and intelligent content through their Shopify storefronts. For ecommerce businesses already on the platform, this integration presents an opportunity to stay ahead of AI-driven trends and optimise customer engagement at scale.
A New Approach to Visibility
If ChatGPT’s shopping feature continues to gain traction, it could have long-term implications for how product discovery happens online. Rather than focusing purely on search engine optimisation as we know it, brands may need to consider how helpful and trustworthy their content appears in broader contexts. Visibility on ChatGPT will increasingly become dependant on quality and accessibility, particularly when it comes to customer reviews.
It’s also worth noting that ChatGPT doesn’t support in-app purchases. Instead, it serves as a research and comparison tool, guiding users towards the best information before they buy. For consumers, this means less time spent clicking between browser tabs. For brands, it reinforces the importance of producing informative, clear, and accessible content across owned channels.
What This Means for Your Business
If you’re in a product-focused industry this development is worth paying attention to. It suggests that future online visibility will be shaped less by paid placements and more by how well your brand communicates its value through content.
Some practical things to consider:
- Review the quality of your product descriptions and FAQs
- Make sure reviews, case studies, and testimonials are easy to access
- Focus on clarity and transparency across your website and digital channels
The Evolving Importance of Customer Reviews
In this age of AI-powered shopping assistants, reviews matter more now than ever when it comes to being visible. While traditional search engines prioritise keywords, AI analyses the contents of reviews in order to understand the product quality, usability and customer satisfaction in order to provide recommendations to users. Therefore, a detailed review will significantly aid in enhancing your product’s visibility in AI-driven searches, not simply the one-worded five star reviews you may be currently getting, which may have previously worked.
Some Practices Brands Should Implement:
- Encourage your customers to leave detailed reviews by asking them specific questions such as about the product quality, fit, or durability
- Display review highlights prominently on product pages
- Incentivise quality reviews with loyalty points, discounts, or entries to giveaways
Essentials To Getting Your Products Found!
To ensure your products are discoverable and shown on ChatGPT’s shopping feature, there are some essential tips you should consider:
- Check Your Robots.text File
If you’ve opted out of being tracked, your products won’t show up in ChatGPT’s recommendations! So make sure your site’s robots.txt file isn’t blocking Open AI’s web crawler. Providing access to Open AI’s web crawler also allows you to then track referral traffic from ChatGPT using various platforms including Google Analytics. - Opt-In to Product Feed Submissions
Open AI will soon be accepting product feed submissions directly from merchants! Opting in to this is an absolute no-brainer, as it sets your brand up for increased visibility and staying ahead in the new AI-driven ecommerce landscape. You can sign up to be notified when these feed submissions open up here.
Introducing GEO: The Next Big Shift in Search
Another emerging topic closely linked to AI and ecommerce is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). As platforms like ChatGPT begin shaping user journeys earlier in the decision-making process, traditional SEO is evolving into something much broader. GEO is all about optimising your content for AI-driven discovery, not just search engines. We’ll be doing a deeper dive into what GEO means, how it works, and what brands can do to adapt in an upcoming blog post – stay tuned.
Looking Ahead
This update is part of a broader evolution of how AI is influencing search, customer behaviour, and brand interaction online. OpenAI has also added features like smarter search with citations, and even WhatsApp integration, showing its intent to play a larger role in how people get answers and make decisions.
While ChatGPT won’t replace search engines entirely, it’s becoming a key touchpoint. As well as a reminder for businesses that helpful, human-centred content is still the most valuable thing you can offer.
