Recently, some information has leaked to the public that seems to indicate that OpenAI (the maker of ChatGPT) is looking to enter the ecommerce space. This means, similarly to services like Shopify, ChatGPT is going to help facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers, taking a cut of the profit. Let’s explore what this initiative means for the future of online shopping.
How do Ecommerce facilitators work?
Virtual Point-of-Sale (POS) systems are online platforms that help facilitate transactions, shipping, and finances for online commerce platforms. These systems have recently taken the world by storm with popular brands including Toast, Square, and PayPal. However for the ecommerce space specifically, Shopify often reigns supreme. These brands work similarly to credit cards in the sense that they manage and facilitate transactions, for a small percentage fee. This makes the selling process quick and easy by saving users payment and shipping information, so sellers can focus solely on fulfilling orders. This fee virtual POS systems charge sellers is often referred to as a Take Rate or Success Fee. Shopify, depending on your plan, takes about 2.5-3% from your sales plus a flat fee of 30¢. This is how these virtual POS systems make profit. With recent news coming out, it seems ChatGPT also wants to enter the virtual POS world.
Checking Out with ChatGPT
ChatGPT has already charged head first into the virtual world, completely shaking up how the entire internet operates. Google and Meta have been quick to adapt to these changes, but it seems that OpenAI is beginning to engage in the next part of their plan. Many individuals utilize ChatGPT for its ability to recommend products and services online based on very specific prompts. ChatGPTs ability to comprehend human language makes it excel in this area unlike Google. However, it seems OpenAI feels somewhat scorned by the potential profit they are missing out on by doing so much free marketing for ecommerce sites. Soon, OpenAI will release a way for users to not just search for products, but also checkout through ChatGPT via their proprietary POS system. Like Shopify, this means ChatGPT will be procuring a Take Rate from sellers who close deals through the chat bot. Yet, what does this mean for product discovery and advertising?
Product Discovery
In April 2025, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT would begin presenting products to relevant queries. That means individuals asking the chat bot about gift or product recommendations may be prompted with links to relevant items. These items are not paid advertisements and are independently chosen by OpenAI’s algorithm, as currently the platform does not offer any form of paid promotion or marketing. We imagine that in the coming months/year, ChatGPT will not only introduce a virtual POS system, but also paid promotion for certain products like Google and Amazon do.
The only stipulation however, is that the website housing your products must be accessible to AI crawlers. Failing to do so means ChatGPT will skip right over your content and not recommend it to anyone in any capacity. If you want to learn more about making your website AI accessible read our blog on it here!
Customer Service
In addition to driving e-commerce sales, it seems ChatGPT is planning to leverage its software for customer service. Gone are the days of scrolling through lists of FAQs and waiting endlessly for responses from support. Soon, ChatGPT will offer intelligent, personalized answers to customer inquiries about their purchases. This capability will be a significant advantage, given that subpar customer communication is a widespread problem in the e-commerce sector, severely affecting customer retention. The speed at which users will be able to receive support compared to a human associate, is expected to increase sales and conversion rates.
What to Watch Out For
As with anything, there are risks to consider as this new form of e-commerce marketplace emerges. The main issue with AI, despite all its intelligence, is that you put a lot of faith into a non-human service to meet human standards/needs. Using AI for any facet of online commerce poses the risk of the software completely or partially misunderstanding your intentions. This can greatly hinder your progress when considering that a lot of what the AI does happens without your knowledge. If you’re using ChatGPT software as your customer service agent, and it is constantly giving out misinformation, it may take a while and multiple complaints till you realize the issue. Additionally, putting all your effort into generative engine results doesn’t guarantee profit in any capacity. That is why it is better to focus on SEO and GEO campaigns that will indirectly place you into more generative results. That means keeping your blog AI accessible, optimizing for keywords, and potentially using paid promotion on ChatGPT when the feature is announced.
Better to Be Early Than Late
Although still in the planning stage, the ecommerce space is changing rapidly. It is always better to be early to these changes than late. AI is about to change how ecommerce is done forever, and those who adopt the practice early will have an advantage over those who don’t.
If you are interested in exploring how to prepare and optimize for the arrival of ChatGPT’s ecommerce marketplace, contact Rise Marketing Group today for a free consultation!
