Last week, OpenAI announced a series of updates to ChatGPT’s shopping experience, with the goal to establish it as a first point of call for online shoppers. Since the generative AI conversation reached a peak, users and industry insiders alike have been asking how the tech will impact the shopping journey. Could the ‘ChatGPT of shopping’ be ChatGPT itself?
With the updates, when ChatGPT users search for fashion, beauty, home goods or electronics, the platform will provide personalised recommendations, visual product details, pricing comparisons across retailers, and reviews. There’ll also be direct links to purchase from merchant websites from the ChatGPT interface. As of now, there are no ads, and it’s not pay to play, according to OpenAI. Product recommendations are based on factors such as ‘relevance to user intent’, and are not sponsored placement, says OpenAI spokesperson Leah Anise.
Finding items relevant to ourselves and our style is an increasingly challenging feat. Amidst algorithms programmed to show us items we’ve indicated we like (versus new products we might find we enjoy) and the uptick in pay-to-play opportunities for brands, shopping and discovery feel harder than ever. AI proponents think that the tech can be the solution, as AI agents and models can comb the internet for items far faster and more thoroughly than any human scrolling e-commerce and social feeds. But is solving for tech hurdles with more tech the answer – particularly given AI’s trust problem? Only 24 per cent of US adults think AI will likely benefit them personally, according to a recent Pew Research study. And only 23 per cent say they interact with AI daily.
ChatGPT is doing what many tech companies – including Google – have been working towards with AI-enhanced shopping. Last October, Google Shopping released a suite of updates enabled by generative AI, including personalised recommendations and the ability to compare the same products across retailers. But the query still formatted like a regular Google search. Companies from Daydream and SpangleAI to Sociate and OneOff are also working to make online discovery easier with AI.
OpenAI has announced updates to the shopping experience on its generative AI platform ChatGPT, recommending products and where to buy them. Is this the future of online shopping?
Experts contend that the ChatGPT move represents a significant step forward for not just AI-enabled shopping, but e-commerce. “ChatGPT represents a more radical shift,” says Adrien Menard, CEO of SEO platform Botify. “It’s conversational from the ground up,” he says, adding that the shift away from SEO-driven headlines is key to delivering results consumers feel are more useful. It’s also collapsing the funnel, he adds, by surfacing comparisons, reviews, and pricing in a single step. “If a tool helps me find what I want faster — with fewer tabs, fewer ads, and smarter recommendations — I’ll keep using it,” he says. Will everyone?
New habits die hard?
With over 1 billion searches a week, according to OpenAI, ChatGPT is fast becoming a habit. It’s used by over a quarter of the population (excluding China), per GWI. As more consumers integrate the tool into their daily lives, using it to shop could become second nature. “For many consumers, especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha, starting a shopping journey with a chatbot [already] feels more intuitive than opening a browser tab,” Menard says.
Plus, this funnel collapse is key, says Daniel Carles, adjunct professor of digital marketing and e-commerce at Istituto Marangoni, who argues that ChatGPT is already the go-to for many shoppers. “It collapses the messy, decision-fatiguing shopping funnel into a simple conversation,” he says. “[It’s] an AI assistant that doesn’t upsell or shove sponsored listings down your throat, but filters billions of data points into one trusted answer.”
To put it to the test, I asked ChatGPT for a white button-down that can transition from the office to socialising after work. (I also told it that I’m a 26-year-old woman and work in fashion publishing.) It gave me six options: an ‘eco-friendly silk’ shirt from Everlane; a ‘classic tailoring’ option from Banana Republic; a ‘feminine fit’ from Ann Taylor; ‘athleisure-inspired’ from Lululemon; a ‘casual’ secondhand Banana Republic short sleeve; and a ‘statement piece’ shirt from Almina Concept, each with a descriptor and a link to buy. Three of the six options weren’t white. Most weren’t my style either, but it did offer one point of discovery: I hadn’t heard of Alimina Concept, but would definitely consider buying a $148 cotton shirt from the brand.
It’s conversational. Curious about the brand, I asked how long Almina Concept has been around. ChatGPT told me it was founded in 2017 by Angela Gahng. I got background information about the designer, the brand’s factories and its offerings. Back to my search for a white button-down – I asked ChatGPT for some more recs, then which white button-down would be best suited for drinks on the Lower East Side. It pointed me to The Frankie Shop, among a few other brands. “If you’re leaning toward the Frankie Shop one, you’re in good company — it’s probably the best blend of work-to-social, especially in a neighbourhood like the LES. Want help styling it for tonight?”
It’s that conversational nature that gives ChatGPT the edge on existing AI shopping tools (like Google), Carles says. “ChatGPT feels like you’re talking to a smart friend who knows and then makes your decision for you,” he says. “That’s not just functional, it’s emotional. And in marketing, emotion beats logic every time.”
But this may not be enough. Though ChatGPT leads the generative AI pack, Emarketer forecasts that only 37.7 per cent of internet users will use it this year. “That puts its ‘conversational edge’ into perspective,” says Zak Stambor, senior retail and ecommerce analyst at Emarketer. “It’s not yet clear that most consumers see chat as a better way to shop or search.”
Google may be less conversational, but people shop on the search engine over 1 billion times a day, according to a Google spokesperson. Over 45 billion products are continually updated which, the spokesperson says, means users get information they feel they can trust.
The question of trust that will determine whether ChatGPT can really become the go-to for shopping for the masses, says Chris Beer, senior data analyst at consumer insights company GWI. AI still produces hallucinations (false information presented as fact), which causes hesitation in consumers who aren’t sold on the basis of conversation, Beer says. “ChatGPT may help as a companion during the research stage, but there’s still a long process it needs to go through to establish credibility and trust before it can become a go-to.”
Ad-free
That ChatGPT doesn’t integrate ads into its shopping recommendations is one of its biggest pluses, experts agree. Though trust may be lacking in some areas, the fact that none of the ChatGPT results are ads is encouraging for consumers fatigued by the constant stream of advertisements mixed in with their social media feeds and Google search results.
ChatGPT’s results are organised by structured metadata, which refers to the way in which data is organised, Menard says. “That means brands can’t just pay to play — they need to earn visibility through clean, optimised product data,” he says. “Startups in the recommendation engine space are usually focused on personalising within walled gardens (like e-commerce sites or marketplaces), while ChatGPT is trying to be the starting point for all online shopping.”
Will this change in the future? There are no plans at this stage, according to OpenAI, though the company didn’t explicitly rule it out either. “We do not have plans to bring ads into the product at this time,” Anise says.
Experts say that, down the line, founder Sam Altman (who has said he “kind of hate[s] ads”) may have to compromise. “AI tech is expensive and subscriptions alone might not be enough to fund it,” Beer says. And this may not be as bad as it sounds, at least when it comes to consumer perception, he flags: consumers are more likely to support seeing ads when using AI tools (40 per cent) than they are to oppose (29 per cent), per a recent GWI survey. (The survey asked consumers how much they agreed with a few different statements about AI tech, including ‘I am comfortable seeing ads when using AI tools’.) “While ads are never universally popular, if they are introduced, they might not meet the kind of resistance some expect.”
Carles agrees. “Monetisation is inevitable,” he says – whether it’s subscription revenue, licensing deals, or advertisements. Beer floats the idea of affiliate models, where ChatGPT takes a cut, which is what publications and platforms like Substack do now.
Product versus style
AI’s rise as a shopping tool – especially in the context of AI-native tools like ChatGPT – doesn’t sit well with some users. Over the last couple of years, people with even a tangential interest in fashion have become preoccupied with the impact of algorithms on our personal style. We see the same trends; covet the same items; buy said items; and the cycle begins again. In reality, this sameness is, in part, the result of structural industry issues, which doesn’t make the vast majority of products available any less bland. If ChatGPT is regurgitating what’s floating around our trend-ladden internet, how is it going to offer new points of discovery?
It could exacerbate existing algorithmically-driven limitations, experts agree. AI agents trained on historical data and optimised for user satisfaction tend to default to showing ‘safe bets’, Menard says. This often means already-popular brands with high reviews and rich metadata (which can also be outdated) – not the nicher, better-suited indie brand whose business stems more from Instagram than e-comm. “If that loop isn’t disrupted, we risk a ‘brand monoculture’, where new voices and designers get buried beneath the algorithmic fold,” Menard says.
Plus, ChatGPT’s recommendations are personalised – which means it uses past clicks and purchases to inform what a user sees. Memory will be rolled out to work with search and shopping in the next few weeks, Anise says. “[This] means ChatGPT will consider context from past conversations to help find a better answer for you,” she says.
Ostensibly, this is useful. But it can also narrow a user’s potential for discovery because, like the social media algorithms before it, it shows you what you’ve indicated you’re interested in from past engagement – limiting the scope of newness. (Anise flags that you can always turn the tool off.)
“If an agent remembers you always pick classic bags, will it stop suggesting bold or avant-garde designs — even if your taste evolves?” Menard asks. “That’s a real concern, especially in luxury, where emotional discovery and aesthetic shifts are part of the journey.”
This is where purpose-built, fashion-specific AI platforms still have the edge. Soon-to-launch Daydream – which raised $50 million in seed funding last year – will enable shoppers to search for and discover pieces using generative AI and machine learning. “We can finally build an intelligent online-shopping platform that will make it easy and fun for consumers to find products they love among the best selection of brands and retailers in the world,” founder Julie Bornstein said in a statement following the raise.
ChatGPT and purpose-built AI shopping platforms can coexist, experts say. “ChatGPT wins on scale. Daydream wins on style,” Carles says. “Daydream knows fashion inside out, it’s trained on trends and luxury cues. ChatGPT is the generalist with global reach.”
Just as your average consumer probably isn’t all that concerned about the demise of personal style, they’re likely content with a good, solid recommendation that they like the look of (because it looks similar to what they’ve bought before) and can discover on the same platform they’re looking up which restaurant to go to and what they should pack for their holiday next week. This majority is who OpenAI is after.
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