OpenAI added a new “product feed” campaign option to ChatGPT that lets merchants generate ads directly from their product catalogs rather than building them one by one, similar to Google Shopping or PMax campaigns. Retailers have been able to upload their product catalogs to ChatGPT since around September 2025 so that it could ingest their product data to surface in organic answers, but there was no option to connect that data to paid ads until now. Brands had to build each product ad one by one.
Here's how it works, according to Digiday:
- Merchants connect their product catalog
- They set filters for which products are eligible for advertising
- ChatGPT generates ads from product names, images, and attributes
Seems straightforward enough. Where was this BEFORE launching and sunsetting Instant Checkout? LOL
Digiday notes that ads from product feed campaigns still appear in the same placement as other ChatGPT ads, below the organic answer and clearly labeled as sponsored. OpenAI appears to be testing the campaigns with ad partners like Criteo, and no public launch has been announced yet.
I've given OpenAI a lot of crap throughout their e-commerce journey — all of it well-deserved. However, it finally feels like they're starting to get on the right track with a solid plan and product roadmap to become a formidable player in e-commerce product discovery.
In recent months the company has launched a CPC ad format (adding to its initial CPM option), released a much-needed conversion tracking pixel, rolled out a Shopping Research tool that lets users compare products across the web before they buy, and inked partnerships with major adtech firms like Criteo to scale its ads platform. Now these are moves that I can get behind!
