OpenAI ChatGPT: New Shopping Features That Could Redefine AI-Assisted eCommerce

Artificial intelligence in eCommerce just hit a major milestone. On April 28, 2025, OpenAI announced the rollout of new experimental shopping features in ChatGPT designed to make product discovery more intuitive and efficient—right inside the popular chatbot interface. With this move, OpenAI signals a stronger push into online commerce, reshaping the intersection of OpenAI and eCommerce. In this article, we break down the key updates, explore how the feature works, analyze the implications for merchants, and outline why this innovation could change how online shopping is done.

How ChatGPT’s shopping features work

ChatGPT is evolving from a conversational assistant to a personalized shopping advisor. When a user types a product-intent query (e.g., “What are the best noise-canceling headphones under $200?”), ChatGPT can now display a curated carousel of product options. This response includes product images, simplified titles and descriptions, price ranges, customer review snippets, and direct shopping links to purchase. The experience mimics a smart comparison tool embedded in a chat.

These experimental features are available to all ChatGPT users, even those on the free plan, and function without requiring login. They rely on OpenAI's latest models, with browsing enabled to pull live product data from the web. Initially, the feature focuses on high-interest categories like tech, home, fashion, and beauty, with plans to expand over time.

Notably, OpenAI insists that these recommendations are not paid placements. The AI independently selects products based on user intent, contextual relevance, and publicly available data—without sponsorship or affiliate bias. It takes into account the user's query, sentiment, preferences (if provided), online product reputation, technical specs, and budget alignment. If the user refines their request or asks for alternatives, ChatGPT dynamically adjusts its recommendations.

From a user experience standpoint, ChatGPT aims to streamline product discovery. No need to sift through countless search results or comparison articles—just ask a question and get curated, digestible suggestions. The chatbot can display helpful product labels like “Best value” or “Great for travel,” and include summaries of review trends. Clicking on a product reveals additional retailer options with prices, shipping details, and more. Currently, OpenAI does not sort these merchants by price or availability—data comes as-is from third-party providers.

What this means for eCommerce merchants

For eCommerce merchants, this is a development to watch closely. ChatGPT is becoming a discovery channel, offering product suggestions outside traditional platforms like Google or Amazon. Your products might now be surfaced through ChatGPT responses—if your content is accessible and structured appropriately.

First, make sure you’re discoverable

OpenAI’s product results are powered by its OAI-SearchBot, a web crawler that indexes content for its AI systems. Ensure that your site is not blocking this crawler via your robots.txt file. If your product pages are optimized for SEO, they’re likely already eligible—but it’s wise to double-check for compatibility with OpenAI’s crawler.

Another major tip: traffic from ChatGPT can be tracked. OpenAI appends utm_source=chatgpt.com to outbound links, so merchants can identify traffic via tools like Google Analytics.

Optimize your product data

ChatGPT assembles its recommendations from publicly available data. That means product pages should be complete, well-structured, and up-to-date. Include strong copy, clear specifications, and authentic customer reviews. Products with positive sentiment and solid value are more likely to be recommended.

OpenAI has hinted at future support for merchant product feeds. A form is already live to express interest in providing structured catalogs—similar to Google Shopping feeds. Merchants who act early may gain an edge when this feature expands.

Bottom line: while you can’t pay to appear in ChatGPT shopping carousels, you can increase your visibility by aligning with the AI’s logic. This new “AI-first SEO” (sometimes called AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization) is the next frontier for competitive eCommerce.

How this affects your eCommerce SEO strategy

This shift fundamentally impacts how merchants should think about SEO. Traditionally, SEO aimed to rank on Google. But now, AI-driven answer engines like ChatGPT can intercept the user journey before they even reach a search engine.

Merchants should prepare by:

• Creating well-written, review-rich product pages
• Structuring data using Schema.org and other semantic markup
• Ensuring their site allows crawling by OAI-SearchBot

The emergence of conversational product discovery means that relevance is determined by how easily AI can parse and compare your offering—not just how well you rank on SERPs.

SEO vs GEO: What are the best strategies for boosting your eCommerce with AI?

A potential Shopify–OpenAI integration?

While no official announcement has been made, developers have uncovered clues in ChatGPT’s code suggesting a future integration with Shopify’s checkout system. Elements like buy_now and shopify_checkout_url appear in the codebase, indicating OpenAI may soon allow users to complete purchases within ChatGPT’s interface.

If this integration becomes official, it would allow:

• Product discovery via ChatGPT
• Contextual product info (price, reviews, specs)
• Native checkout through Shopify, without leaving the chat

This could turn ChatGPT into a complete shopping funnel, from recommendation to transaction. For Shopify merchants, this represents a huge opportunity to gain visibility in a frictionless channel. Now is the time to prepare by optimizing your data and ensuring readiness for emerging AI-commerce integrations.

Conclusion: Get your brand AI-ready

OpenAI’s new shopping features mark a major inflection point in the evolution of digital commerce. As ChatGPT becomes a hybrid between search engine and shopping advisor, merchants need to adapt quickly.

Ensure your products are discoverable, your content is structured for AI, and your team is ready for this new era of AI-assisted commerce. Whether it’s through content audits, feed optimization, or new tracking strategies—aligning with how ChatGPT “thinks” is critical.

At Novatize, we specialize in future-proof eCommerce strategies. If you want to assess your readiness for this new AI-powered ecosystem, connect with our experts. We’ll help you stay visible, competitive, and ahead of the curve—across both human and machine-driven channels.

Would you like to talk to an expert about your eCommerce? We’d love to hear from you!

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