OpenAI’s Product Finder allows ChatGPT users to search out things to buy and the integration with PayPal let’s them pay for them. Lee Metters, Brand Partnerships Director at Awin tries it out and finds out how this new form of discovery is going to be very disruptive to retail media
From social media to search engines, out-of-home displays, and more, consumers have their pick of platforms for product search and discovery, creating stiff competition to capture their attention and guide their shopping journey. ChatGPT has joined the game and is levelling up the competition.
Earlier this year, OpenAI released Product Finder, a new feature allowing users to directly search for, discover, and shop for products right in ChatGPT. Rather than typing queries into a traditional search engine, users can simply describe what they’re looking for and receive tailored product recommendations, along with comparisons, reviews, and pros and cons.
More recently, ChatGPT has gone one step further, allowing users to purchase products from select retailers such as Etsy without ever leaving the chat. Crucially, these AI-generated product recommendations include direct purchase links, shrinking the customer journey from a multi-stage, click-and-compare process to a simple, linear path from discovery to conversion.
This move blurs the line between conversation and conversion, positioning ChatGPT as both a shopping assistant and a checkout.
What goes into ChatGPT’s product recommendations?
I wanted to see how ChatGPT’s product recommendations compare to traditional retail discovery.
In the lead up to recently becoming a parent, I asked Product Finder to recommend baby monitors available in the UK, matching a few specific criteria. The first listing it generated was the Hubble Connected Nursery Pal Glow, along with a full feature breakdown and a recommendation to buy it from John Lewis & Partners.
Next, I headed to the retailer’s website to see what their internal search engine would return.
Interestingly, when I searched for “baby monitors” on the John Lewis website, the first product listing was the same Hubble monitor, likely securing the top spot thanks to an endemic retail media campaign, where brands pay for prime positioning on a retailer’s website or app.
The results surprised me. While ChatGPT and the John Lewis website ended up recommending the same product, they did so for different reasons.
On the retailer’s website, a paid placement had nudged the Hubble monitor into my view. But when I asked ChatGPT for recommendations, it gave me a direct product link. With a closer look, the suggestion ChatGPT surfaced came from an Expert Reviews article – a media site – that included an affiliate link, meaning I never saw the category page or the endemic ad placement.
For brands, this signals a significant shift in the product discovery journey, with major implications for retail media strategy. Rather than investing in on-site placements that AI can easily bypass, there’s now increased value in media partnerships and affiliate content that rank well within OpenAI’s ecosystem.
The new starting place for product discovery
Based on my experiment, there’s a clear indication that off-site content is behind AI-driven product recommendations. And the numbers back it up: ChatGPT drove over 243.8 million visits to media sites in April 2025, a remarkable 98% increase from January 2025.
We still don’t know how big AI commerce is; OpenAI has yet to release data about the click-through rates on Product Finder. But we do know that ChatGPT handles over 1 billion web interactions every day. If Product Finder is responsible for even a fraction of those, it means users are driving tens of millions of product discovery sessions every week.
The question is: If ChatGPT becomes the go-to starting point for product discovery, what happens to traditional retail media strategies?
Right now, endemic retail media largely focuses on on-site placements, such as sponsored product listings, category banners, and carousels within retailer environments. Media sites have also played a role in affiliate strategies, albeit to a lesser degree. But ChatGPT could shift the balance.
By citing third-party media sites in product recommendations and linking users directly to retailers’ product pages, ChatGPT is shifting where the shopping journey begins. This is pulling consumers away from retailer ecosystems and thereby reducing their exposure to traditional paid placements. In step, brands and retailers should shift their strategies – and their budgets – to off-site content.
It’s time for retail media strategy to shift
Currys is one example of how retailers can pivot to an integrated, multi-channel retail strategy.
The electronics retailer has long invested in endemic-funded media campaigns. In addition to on-site retail media campaigns that support conversion, Currys also uses third-party content to attract high-intent shoppers to category pages, where on-site placements seal the deal.
In an AI-driven retail environment, this model covers the full funnel. By investing in high-quality third-party content, Currys increases its chances of being included in AI-generated responses and product recommendations, where they can reach shoppers early in the decision-making process – even before they visit a retailer’s site.
To stay visible and competitive in AI commerce, other brands and retailers should follow suit. That means extending endemic retail media efforts beyond on-site placements to high-quality off-site content through a diverse network of partners.
With the global affiliate market set to expand at a CAGR of 8% from 2024 to 2031, there are growing opportunities for brands to reach and engage new audiences. By working with a range of affiliate partners, from traditional media publishers to content creators, brands can increase their presence in off-site content as well as their chances of being included in ever-influential AI-generated product recommendations.
Author
Lee Metters is Brand Partnerships Director at Awin
You are in: Home » Retail Media » OPINION Is ChatGPT the new tastemaker? How OpenAI is reshaping retail media
OPINION Is ChatGPT the new tastemaker? How OpenAI is reshaping retail media
Paul Skeldon
OpenAI’s Product Finder allows ChatGPT users to search out things to buy and the integration with PayPal let’s them pay for them. Lee Metters, Brand Partnerships Director at Awin tries it out and finds out how this new form of discovery is going to be very disruptive to retail media
From social media to search engines, out-of-home displays, and more, consumers have their pick of platforms for product search and discovery, creating stiff competition to capture their attention and guide their shopping journey. ChatGPT has joined the game and is levelling up the competition.
Earlier this year, OpenAI released Product Finder, a new feature allowing users to directly search for, discover, and shop for products right in ChatGPT. Rather than typing queries into a traditional search engine, users can simply describe what they’re looking for and receive tailored product recommendations, along with comparisons, reviews, and pros and cons.
More recently, ChatGPT has gone one step further, allowing users to purchase products from select retailers such as Etsy without ever leaving the chat. Crucially, these AI-generated product recommendations include direct purchase links, shrinking the customer journey from a multi-stage, click-and-compare process to a simple, linear path from discovery to conversion.
This move blurs the line between conversation and conversion, positioning ChatGPT as both a shopping assistant and a checkout.
What goes into ChatGPT’s product recommendations?
I wanted to see how ChatGPT’s product recommendations compare to traditional retail discovery.
In the lead up to recently becoming a parent, I asked Product Finder to recommend baby monitors available in the UK, matching a few specific criteria. The first listing it generated was the Hubble Connected Nursery Pal Glow, along with a full feature breakdown and a recommendation to buy it from John Lewis & Partners.
Next, I headed to the retailer’s website to see what their internal search engine would return.
Interestingly, when I searched for “baby monitors” on the John Lewis website, the first product listing was the same Hubble monitor, likely securing the top spot thanks to an endemic retail media campaign, where brands pay for prime positioning on a retailer’s website or app.
The results surprised me. While ChatGPT and the John Lewis website ended up recommending the same product, they did so for different reasons.
On the retailer’s website, a paid placement had nudged the Hubble monitor into my view. But when I asked ChatGPT for recommendations, it gave me a direct product link. With a closer look, the suggestion ChatGPT surfaced came from an Expert Reviews article – a media site – that included an affiliate link, meaning I never saw the category page or the endemic ad placement.
For brands, this signals a significant shift in the product discovery journey, with major implications for retail media strategy. Rather than investing in on-site placements that AI can easily bypass, there’s now increased value in media partnerships and affiliate content that rank well within OpenAI’s ecosystem.
The new starting place for product discovery
Based on my experiment, there’s a clear indication that off-site content is behind AI-driven product recommendations. And the numbers back it up: ChatGPT drove over 243.8 million visits to media sites in April 2025, a remarkable 98% increase from January 2025.
We still don’t know how big AI commerce is; OpenAI has yet to release data about the click-through rates on Product Finder. But we do know that ChatGPT handles over 1 billion web interactions every day. If Product Finder is responsible for even a fraction of those, it means users are driving tens of millions of product discovery sessions every week.
The question is: If ChatGPT becomes the go-to starting point for product discovery, what happens to traditional retail media strategies?
Right now, endemic retail media largely focuses on on-site placements, such as sponsored product listings, category banners, and carousels within retailer environments. Media sites have also played a role in affiliate strategies, albeit to a lesser degree. But ChatGPT could shift the balance.
By citing third-party media sites in product recommendations and linking users directly to retailers’ product pages, ChatGPT is shifting where the shopping journey begins. This is pulling consumers away from retailer ecosystems and thereby reducing their exposure to traditional paid placements. In step, brands and retailers should shift their strategies – and their budgets – to off-site content.
It’s time for retail media strategy to shift
Currys is one example of how retailers can pivot to an integrated, multi-channel retail strategy.
The electronics retailer has long invested in endemic-funded media campaigns. In addition to on-site retail media campaigns that support conversion, Currys also uses third-party content to attract high-intent shoppers to category pages, where on-site placements seal the deal.
In an AI-driven retail environment, this model covers the full funnel. By investing in high-quality third-party content, Currys increases its chances of being included in AI-generated responses and product recommendations, where they can reach shoppers early in the decision-making process – even before they visit a retailer’s site.
To stay visible and competitive in AI commerce, other brands and retailers should follow suit. That means extending endemic retail media efforts beyond on-site placements to high-quality off-site content through a diverse network of partners.
With the global affiliate market set to expand at a CAGR of 8% from 2024 to 2031, there are growing opportunities for brands to reach and engage new audiences. By working with a range of affiliate partners, from traditional media publishers to content creators, brands can increase their presence in off-site content as well as their chances of being included in ever-influential AI-generated product recommendations.
Author
Lee Metters is Brand Partnerships Director at Awin
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