What We Have Learned About ChatGPT Enhanced Shopping Experience

On April 28, 2025, OpenAI announced significant updates to ChatGPT's search functionality, with a primary focus on improving product discovery and shopping experiences.

Search has become one of our most popular & fastest growing features, with over 1 billion web searches just in the past week."

– Source: OpenAI Official Announcement

This update positions ChatGPT as an increasingly important product discovery channel for brands seeking to reach users during early and mid-funnel shopping moments.

Key Improvements

• Enhanced ability to find, compare, and buy products directly within ChatGPT.
• Product listings now feature images, pricing, descriptions, reviews, and direct purchase links.
• Product results are chosen independently — they are not advertisements and are based on structured metadata and third-party sources.

Important Highlights

• ‍Product results are powered by "structured metadata," likely referring to Schema.org product markup as a foundational source. (Learn More) ‍
• OpenAI is exploring a direct product feed submission option to improve listing accuracy.
  • ‍Merchants can sign up for notifications here. ‍
• Shopping feature enhancements include:
  • ‍Improved product result quality
  • Visual product details, pricing, and customer reviews
  • Direct links to merchants for purchasing Listings chosen independently (not paid placements) ‍
• Rollout Status: ‍
  • Rolling out now to Plus, Pro, Free, and logged-out users worldwide.
  • Expected to complete within the next several days.
    

How Product Discovery Works in ChatGPT

ChatGPT’s product shopping experience is built on a combination of the following factors:

• Allow OAI-SearchBot: For your site to be discoverable in ChatGPT, you must allow OAI-SearchBot to access your website’s content.
• Structured Metadata: Pulling from structured data, likely including Schema.org markup (e.g., price, description, product availability) embedded on product pages.
• Third-Party Content: Incorporating third-party sources such as public reviews and aggregated ratings.
• Model Interpretation: ChatGPT interprets user intent dynamically. However, errors can occur (e.g., recommending something outside of a user's intended style or price range).
• Safety Standards: Product results are filtered to meet OpenAI’s content and safety standards.
• Relevance Weighting: Depending on a user's query, different attributes (e.g., price, popularity, customer feedback) are prioritized.

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Key Details About Product Listings

• Product Titles & Descriptions: ChatGPT may generate simplified or edited titles and descriptions based on received metadata for clarity and consistency across products.
• Product Labels (e.g., "Budget-Friendly", "Most Popular"): These are model-generated based on available data but are not verified or guaranteed to be the best market options.
• Reviews and Ratings: Summaries of user reviews are model-generated from public sources. Star ratings and counts come from third-party providers and may not exactly match ratings on specific retail sites.
• Pricing Information: Prices shown are pulled from the first merchant listed via the third-party feed, but may not always reflect the lowest available price. There may also be delays in updates for price changes, shipping costs, and taxes.
• Merchant Listings: When users click on a product, they may see multiple merchant options. The merchant list order is currently determined by the third-party data provider, not by OpenAI’s own ranking system.
  
  

Merchant Participation: What's Coming

OpenAI is exploring a direct product feed solution to allow merchants to submit their inventory directly to ChatGPT.

This should offer:

• Greater accuracy and freshness of product listings
• Potentially more control over how your products are displayed

If you are interested, you can sign up to be notified when submissions open here:

Be Found in ChatGPT's Shopping Experience

ChatGPT's enhanced shopping features is reshaping e-commerce discovery. Don't get left behind while your competitors capture this valuable traffic. Our team of senior search experts will help you make sense of the revolution and build a dedicated strategy to ensure your brand is found in traditional and AI search by consumers searching for your products.

Ready to maximize your visibility in ChatGPT? Book a consultation today and discover how Botify can help you seize this new opportunity.

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