Last week I reported that new code made public by OpenAI suggested that it is working on allowing users to make purchases from Shopify directly inside ChatGPT without visiting the merchant's website.
Later that day, after my edition was published, OpenAI revealed that is indeed launching a shopping feature within ChatGPT — although it did not confirm a direct integration with Shopify.
The company posted on X:
“We're excited to announce we’ve launched several improvements to ChatGPT search, and today we’re starting to roll out a better shopping experience. Search has become one of our most popular & fastest growing features, with over 1 billion web searches just in the past week.
We’re experimenting with making shopping simpler and faster to find, compare, and buy products in ChatGPT.
✅ Improved product results
✅ Visual product details, pricing, and reviews
✅ Direct links to buyProduct results are chosen independently and are not ads. These shopping improvements are starting to roll out today to Plus, Pro, Free, and logged-out users everywhere ChatGPT is available. It will take a few days to complete the rollout.”
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke responded to the post with:
“There is so much potential in this. The beginning of a totally new modality of shopping. Extremely excited.”
To use the new shopping feature, you simply enter a shopping-related query like, “Find me a laptop that's great for video editing, but light enough to travel with,” and then ChatGPT reveals suggestions in the form of product cards in a gallery, which can be scrolled sideways. Tapping on a product reveals a pop-up window on the right with more details about the product and a buy button.
The shopping feature will be available to all ChatGPT users worldwide, including Pro, Plus, and Free users, as well as those who use the service without logging in.
OpenAI also teased that it will soon integrate its memory feature with its shopping capabilities, enabling ChatGPT to reference a user’s previous chats to further personalize product recommendations.
OpenAI plans to provide a way for merchants to submit product feeds directly to ChatGPT, similar to how you can submit your product feed to Google Merchant Center. You can register for early access to that here.