Originally posted May 27, 2025, updated June 29, 2026.
At one time, shopping meant driving to a store, browsing aisles, and lining up at the register. That time has long passed. Today, consumers shop everywhere: on their phones, laptops, through social media feeds, and yes, still in-store.
But there’s a new channel entering the mix: AI shopping tools like ChatGPT.
In 2026, that channel goes well beyond simple product research. Through ChatGPT’s shopping research, ChatGPT can surface product options, build personalized buyer guides, display merchant options, and, for eligible products and merchants, support checkout inside the chat experience. AI shopping is moving from “help me decide” to “help me buy.”
Unlike traditional shopping experiences, AI does much of the heavy lifting. Want a quick comparison of the best wireless earbuds under $200? ChatGPT can help. Curious which iPhone model offers the best value right now? AI can walk through prices, product tradeoffs, reviews, and feature differences in seconds.
AI is becoming a shopping assistant, product expert, and trusted guide rolled into one, and consumers are beginning to rely on it more and more.
Adobe Analytics found that traffic from generative AI sources to U.S. retail sites rose 4,700% year over year in July 2025. In Adobe’s companion survey of more than 5,000 U.S. consumers, 38% said they had used generative AI for online shopping, 52% planned to do so that year, and 85% of AI shopping users said it improved their shopping experience.
In this post, we’ll explore how consumers use AI to shop, what brands can do to stand out in AI-powered conversations, the pros and cons of this shift, and the latest shopping features built into ChatGPT. Let’s get to it!
A new era: the AI shopping assistant
In the few years since generative AI entered the mainstream, it has quickly moved from novelty to everyday utility.
Since ChatGPT’s public launch in late 2022, millions of consumers have started turning to conversational AI for tasks they once reserved for Google. Competitors like Google Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot have followed, but ChatGPT remains a standout for its ease of use and expanding commerce ecosystem.
OpenAI reported in September 2025 that more than 700 million people use ChatGPT each week, including for everyday tasks like finding products. That scale matters because AI shopping tools are not sitting on the edge of ecommerce anymore. They are becoming a front door for product discovery.
And as generative AI becomes more accessible, shoppers use it to fuel their purchasing journey. Deloitte’s 2026 retail outlook found that 9 in 10 retail executives expect AI to be increasingly used over search engines by 2026, while half expect today’s multi-step shopping journey to collapse into a single AI-driven interaction by 2027.
Here’s how shoppers are using AI:
- Discovering brands and products: Instead of searching “natural skincare brands” and sifting through Google or scrolling through UGC content on social media, users can ask ChatGPT for clean, cruelty-free skincare recommendations and get curated suggestions instantly.
- Comparing features, prices, and reviews: AI can surface side-by-side comparisons across dozens of products, pulling insights from reviews, specs, product pages, and third-party sources.
- Requesting tailored recommendations: Whether it’s “best hiking boots for wide feet” or “affordable air purifiers for allergies,” shoppers get context-aware suggestions that mimic talking to a well-informed friend.
- Building buyer’s guides: ChatGPT’s shopping research feature can ask clarifying questions, research across the internet, and return a personalized guide with top products, key differences, tradeoffs, and current information from retailers.
Many users find AI more intuitive than Google search because of its personalization features, along with its ability to handle precise inquiries. Instead of clicking through five tabs and reading hundreds of reviews, much of the decision-making process can happen in one place: the chat.
AI shopping is more than a shift in how people research and purchase products. It’s a rethinking of where and why discovery happens.
How ecommerce brands can optimize for AI shopping
Optimize content for conversational queries
AI shopping thrives on conversations, so your content should too. Use plain, conversational language in product descriptions, FAQs, and meta tags. Consumers aren’t searching for “hydration facial cream hyaluronic acid 1.7oz.” They’re asking, “What’s a good lightweight moisturizer for dry skin in winter?”
Focus on use cases and benefits, not just specs. Think less “Stainless Steel 12oz Insulated Tumbler” and more “Keeps coffee hot for 6 hours.”
Brands should also build content around real shopping questions. That means answering fit, sizing, compatibility, materials, care instructions, use cases, giftability, shipping timing, returns, and what makes one product meaningfully different from another. AI tools need enough context to match a product to a specific shopper’s intent.
Help the algorithm understand your product
If you want ChatGPT and other AI shopping tools to recommend your products, they need to understand them. This means providing clean, structured, and current information.
Use structured data like schema markup to label product attributes such as price, size, color, reviews, availability, shipping, and return information. Google’s product structured data guidance notes that product markup can help search experiences display price, availability, ratings, shipping information, return policy details, and product variants. That same discipline is becoming more important as AI tools read, compare, and summarize product information.
Keep your reviews and Q&A content fresh. Large language models often summarize review sentiment, so the more detailed feedback you have, the better.
Make product data consistent across every channel. A product title, image, SKU, variant name, price, material claim, and availability status should match across the brand site, Shopify, Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, Target Plus, TikTok Shop, Google Merchant Center, and other feeds. Inconsistent product data makes it harder for AI systems to match, compare, and confidently recommend the right item.
Ensure your site is crawlable by ChatGPT’s search bot
Like traditional search engines, ChatGPT uses web crawlers to discover and surface web content. OpenAI’s crawler documentation identifies OAI-SearchBot as the crawler used to surface websites in ChatGPT search features. Sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they may still appear as navigational links.
To be included in AI-powered shopping results, make sure your site isn’t blocking OAI-SearchBot in your robots.txt file. OpenAI also separates OAI-SearchBot from GPTBot, which is used for training foundation models. A webmaster can allow OAI-SearchBot for search visibility while disallowing GPTBot for training use.
Track ChatGPT-driven traffic
When users click on links from ChatGPT search results, brands should monitor referral traffic from chatgpt.com in tools like Google Analytics. Keep an eye out for this traffic and optimize pages accordingly.
This traffic may still be smaller than paid search, email, or organic search, but Adobe’s data suggests it is becoming more commercially meaningful. Shoppers arriving from generative AI sources were 10% more engaged than non-AI traffic, with 32% longer visits, 10% more pages per visit, and a 27% lower bounce rate.
Partner with AI-friendly platforms
AI tools rely on integrations, product feeds, merchant data, and platform partnerships to serve up shopping content. If your products aren’t listed on those platforms, you might not show up, even if your brand is a perfect match for the inquiry.
ChatGPT’s commerce ecosystem now includes Shopify, Etsy, Stripe, and PayPal in different parts of the shopping journey. OpenAI says U.S. ChatGPT users can buy directly from U.S. Etsy sellers through Instant Checkout, with Shopify merchants integrated into the experience. Shopify has also said its merchants will be able to sell directly through ChatGPT conversations, with real-time data such as pricing, inventory, images, and variants helping make products discoverable in a format AI understands.
PayPal also announced that it would adopt OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol and bring product catalogs from tens of millions of merchants to ChatGPT commerce in 2026, with PayPal supporting payments, routing, validation, and orchestration behind the scenes.
The overall market is moving in the same direction. Google introduced Universal Cart at I/O 2026, bringing shopping activity across Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail into one intelligent cart. Microsoft introduced Copilot Checkout in 2026, with partner activation across PayPal, Shopify, and Stripe.
For ecommerce brands, this means product visibility may depend on more than SEO. Product feeds, marketplace data, payment partners, and platform eligibility are becoming part of AI discoverability.
Apply to share your product feed with ChatGPT
The old advice was to sign up for updates when ChatGPT product feed submissions opened. That has changed. OpenAI now has a merchant page where brands can apply to share product data and participate in shopping experiences in ChatGPT. Product feeds can help ChatGPT display more complete, current, and accurate product details, including images, pricing, availability, and reviews.
OpenAI says merchants that sell through Shopify or Etsy are already integrated and do not need an additional setup or application for catalog integration. Shopping is currently live for ChatGPT users in the U.S., with OpenAI planning to expand to more merchants and regions over time.
New 2026 ChatGPT shopping features
Source: OpenAI
OpenAI announced last month the rollout of a new shopping experience across GPT-4o and GPT-OpenAI has expanded shopping inside ChatGPT beyond basic product recommendations. When users ask product-related questions, ChatGPT can now display visually rich product results with:
- Product images and simplified descriptions
- Price and ratings from third-party sources
- Links to merchants where items can be purchased
- Merchant options for products sold by multiple retailers
- Instant Checkout for eligible products and merchants
- Model-generated labels such as “Budget-friendly” or “Most popular”
- Review summaries based on public review content
It’s important to note that product suggestions are not the same as ads. OpenAI’s help center says product results are selected independently by ChatGPT and are not ads or influenced by OpenAI partnerships. Ads are separate from product results.
Shopping research
One of the biggest additions is shopping research, a deeper product discovery experience inside ChatGPT. Instead of returning a quick list, ChatGPT can ask clarifying questions, research across the internet, review product details, and return a personalized buyer’s guide. OpenAI says shopping research is especially useful for more detailed categories like electronics, beauty, home and garden, kitchen and appliances, and sports and outdoor.
Shopping research can also adapt as the user gives feedback. Shoppers can mark products as “Not interested” or “More like this,” allowing the research to refine options in real time.
Instant Checkout and the Agentic Commerce Protocol
ChatGPT is also moving into checkout. OpenAI introduced Instant Checkout in September 2025, powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol and built with Stripe. U.S. ChatGPT Free, Plus, and Pro users can buy directly from U.S. Etsy sellers inside chat, with Shopify merchants coming into the experience.
With Instant Checkout, shoppers can tap “Buy,” confirm order, shipping, and payment details, and complete a purchase without leaving ChatGPT. Orders, payments, fulfillment, returns, and customer support remain handled by the merchant.
OpenAI’s positioning is that ChatGPT acts as the user’s AI agent, while the merchant stays in control of the customer relationship, payment systems, fulfillment, and post-purchase experience.
Product feeds
Product feeds are becoming a key part of ChatGPT shopping visibility. OpenAI’s merchant page says brands can share product feeds to help products appear in AI-powered results when shoppers are actively evaluating what to buy. Feeds can improve catalog coverage, provide richer product details, and keep pricing and availability more current.
AI shopping tools are only as strong as the product data they can access. A detailed, accurate product feed can help reduce wrong descriptions, stale pricing, missing variants, and mismatched product information.
Ads in ChatGPT
A separate 2026 update is ads. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. on February 9, 2026, for users on Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu accounts do not have ads. OpenAI says ads are clearly labeled, visually separated from the response, and do not influence ChatGPT’s answers.
The distinction does matter for ecommerce brands. ChatGPT shopping now includes organic product results, merchant integrations, Instant Checkout, product feeds, and a separate ads system. Those are related commerce surfaces, but they do not all work the same way.
How are products selected?
ChatGPT determines what to show based on user input, context, and available product information. For example, if a user asks for goofy dog costumes and previously shared that they dislike clowns, ChatGPT may skip clown costumes.
According to OpenAI, ChatGPT considers:
- Structured metadata from first-party and third-party providers
- Product descriptions, pricing, reviews, ratings, and other product content
- The user’s query and context, such as memory or custom instructions
- Availability, price, quality, and whether a merchant is the maker or primary seller
- OpenAI safety standards and product policies
Product labels and review summaries are generated by ChatGPT and are not guaranteed or verified claims. A “Budget-friendly” label may mean reviewers often mention value, not necessarily that the item is the lowest-priced option available.
Shopping with ChatGPT doesn’t come without its caveats. With any AI model, the information it pulls may lag behind real-time updates. This means users may not always get the most up-to-date information around prices, availability, shipping, and product details.
OpenAI’s own shopping help center warns that pricing updates may be delayed and recommends that shoppers verify products meet their needs before purchasing.
Pros and cons of AI-powered shopping
Pros
- Being AI-friendly enables a discovery channel beyond traditional search. When done well, it’s an opportunity for brands to get in front of engaged shoppers.
- Customers discovering products through AI conversations are often further along in the buying journey. Typically, they are ready to make a decision and are using AI to refine their choices.
- Because AI leverages a brand’s existing content, like reviews, FAQs, product data, and product feeds, it makes this type of content more valuable.
AI shopping may also improve the quality of traffic. As stated above, Adobe found that shoppers arriving from generative AI sources were more engaged than non-AI traffic, which suggests AI tools may help shoppers narrow their choices before they land on a retail site.
New checkout experiences can also reduce friction. Instant Checkout, Copilot Checkout, and Google Universal Cart all point toward a future where shoppers can move from discovery to purchase with fewer steps.
Cons
- Optimizing for AI is no small feat. It requires continuous updates to product data, schema markup, product feeds, marketplace listings, reviews, and FAQs.
- Visibility isn’t guaranteed without proper optimization or presence on AI-partnered platforms.
- Because ChatGPT can curate and generate product summaries from third-party data and create labels like “budget-friendly,” brands have less control over presentation and the user experience.
AI shopping also raises new measurement challenges. A product may be discovered in ChatGPT, compared in Google Gemini, reviewed on TikTok, and purchased through a merchant site or in-chat checkout. Attribution will get messier as the journey becomes less linear.
There is also a brand loyalty risk. Deloitte found that 81% of the retail executives surveyed believe generative AI will weaken brand loyalty by 2027 as AI tools focus more on value or fit than brand recognition.
The future of AI shopping in ecommerce
We’re entering an era where chat-based commerce is becoming a core layer of the ecommerce experience. From AI shopping assistants embedded into brand websites to voice-powered product discovery via smart devices, the way consumers browse, compare, and buy is shifting fast.
The next phase is agentic commerce, where AI tools do more than answer questions; they compare products, monitor prices, build carts, apply shopper preferences, surface payment options, and complete purchases with user confirmation.
Google’s Universal Cart shows where this is headed. The cart can work across merchants and Google surfaces, including Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail. It can look for deals, alert shoppers when products come back in stock, flag compatibility issues, and help users choose payment perks or loyalty offers.
Microsoft Copilot Checkout is trending in the same direction, allowing shoppers to discover products and complete purchases directly within Copilot, with merchants staying the merchant of record.
Retailers that want to build customer loyalty must optimize for discovery inside AI tools, build intuitive experiences with product data, and stay nimble as shopping becomes more interactive and conversational.
The key to success is not simply showing up in search results. It is making sure products are understandable, accurate, available, and easy to buy wherever AI-powered discovery happens.
