Shopping Features in ChatGPT

OpenAI is rolling out native shopping features within ChatGPT globally. Users can now receive personalized product recommendations, complete with images, reviews, and direct purchase links, all without any ads or auction-based placements. This represents a big shift in how product discovery and comparison is likely going to work.

As a PPC specialist mainly focused on e-commerce, I find it very interesting to see what this might mean for Google Shopping and the usual search-based advertising models.

Some key takeways:
> Categories : Fashion, Beauty, Home Goods, and Electronics will be the first categories OpenAI is rolling out.
> Product recommendations in ChatGPT are generated based on content and structured data (e.g., pricing, reviews), not on paid placements.
> Affiliate link may be added in the future, according to Sam Altman, but not via an auction model like Google Ads.
> Personalized experiences based on memory are currently not available in the EU, due to GDPR compliance — which might affect the depth of personalization here for now.

My Take?

OpenAI seems to be prioritizing mass adoption — both on the user side and among merchants. That likely means zero or very low CPCs to start, as the platform builds traction. Without any auction mechanism , good content will be king. It appears ChatGPT is looking at many different blog pages and ecommerce site to see which products it should place on top.

I reckon however, once enough usage and product supply are in place, there will be strong incentives to monetize aggressively. Then it’s likely to adopt some some of auction mechanism and memory feature for the EU. If OpenAI doesn’t seize that opportunity, competitors might — and do so more efficiently.

The big question: can Google (or other players) keep up with this? And what does this shift mean for the future of our role as PPC specialists?

#PPC #ChatGPT #OpenAI #GoogleAds #DigitalMarketing #Ecommerce #ShoppingAI #AdTech #Search