ChatGPT Shopping: How to Use the New Shopping Feature in 2025

OpenAI continues to enrich its famous conversational assistant with new features. The latest? A shopping feature that turns ChatGPT into a true personal shopping advisor. Announced in April 2025, this feature now allows users to search, compare, and buy products directly from the ChatGPT interface. Let's discover together how this new option could revolutionize your online shopping experience and how to use it effectively.

What is ChatGPT's shopping feature?

The new ChatGPT shopping feature turns the AI assistant into a true personalized shopping guide. It allows users to search for products, get personalized recommendations, and compare different options, all within a natural conversation. However, it's important to note that the final purchase still requires going through a third-party site, as OpenAI has not (yet) implemented an integrated payment system.

This feature is part of OpenAI's strategy to diversify ChatGPT's capabilities and turn it into a true everyday assistant. After integrating web search, image generation, and computer vision, the conversational assistant takes a new step by venturing into the e-commerce domain.

How shopping on ChatGPT works

ChatGPT's shopping feature breaks down into several key steps that make the experience smooth and intuitive:

1. Conversational product search

Unlike traditional search engines, ChatGPT lets you describe what you're looking for in natural language. You can be specific ("I'm looking for a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphone") or vague ("I need a gift for a tech-savvy teenager"). The AI understands the context and gradually refines results based on your responses.

2. Product display and comparison

Once your search is done, ChatGPT displays matching products with their key features, prices, and ratings. You can ask to compare several items side by side or ask specific questions about certain features. The AI's visual capabilities also allow displaying product images to help you choose.

3. Redirect to the merchant site

Once you've made your choice, ChatGPT redirects you to the seller's site to complete the purchase. OpenAI has established partnerships with several major e-commerce platforms to ensure a smooth transition between the conversation and the checkout page.

Benefits of shopping via ChatGPT

This new feature offers several significant advantages over traditional e-commerce platforms:

• Natural and contextual search: Express your needs as you would to a friend, without having to master complex e-commerce site filters.
• Personalized recommendations: The AI analyzes your conversation history to refine its suggestions over time.
• Smart comparison: ChatGPT can highlight significant differences between similar products, beyond a simple spec comparison.
• Multi-source search: The assistant aggregates products from different platforms, saving you from navigating between multiple sites.
• Post-purchase support: You can come back to ask questions about using the product after buying it.

OpenAI recently revealed that this feature uses specific weighting parameters to balance result relevance and avoid excessive commercial bias.

How to effectively use shopping on ChatGPT

To get the most out of this new feature, here are some practical tips:

1. Be specific in your requests

The more specific you are in your initial request, the more relevant the results will be. Don't hesitate to mention your budget, brand preferences, or important technical specs from the start.

2. Use conversation to refine

One of ChatGPT's great advantages is its ability to maintain context. After seeing the first results, refine your search by adding criteria: "I prefer something under €200" or "Is there an option with more battery life?"

3. Ask for explicit comparisons

ChatGPT excels at comparative analysis. Ask it to specifically compare two or three products you're interested in: "Can you compare these two models in terms of value for money?"

For users who want to go further in using ChatGPT's advanced capabilities, it's possible to combine the shopping feature with other features like image generation to visualize certain products in different contexts.

Current limitations and future prospects

Despite its many advantages, ChatGPT's shopping feature still has some limitations:

Limited product catalog

For now, not all products and online stores are integrated into the system. OpenAI is actively working to expand its network of commercial partners, but some product categories remain less well covered than others.

No integrated payment

The need to leave ChatGPT to complete the purchase on a third-party site creates a break in the user experience. Rumors suggest OpenAI could develop its own integrated payment solution in the coming months, similar to what Apple did with Apple Pay.

Privacy concerns

The use of search and purchase data raises legitimate questions about privacy. OpenAI says it does not use this information for advertising purposes, but transparency about data usage remains a major issue.

In the coming months, we can expect a significant expansion of this feature, including the integration of more merchants, improved personalized recommendations, and potentially the addition of an integrated payment system. The advances of French startups in the field of generative AI could also influence the evolution of this feature.

The impact on traditional e-commerce

ChatGPT's arrival in the shopping domain could significantly transform the e-commerce landscape:

For consumers

This new way of shopping online could considerably reduce the time spent searching for the ideal product. The AI's ability to understand precise needs and effectively filter available options represents a significant time saving.

For merchants

E-commerce platforms will need to adapt to this new reality where AI assistants act as intermediaries between them and consumers. This could lead to a revamp of marketing strategies and a race for partnerships with AI providers.

This evolution is part of a broader trend where artificial intelligence is transforming many sectors, including retail.

Conclusion

ChatGPT's shopping feature represents a natural but significant evolution for OpenAI's assistant. By combining the power of conversational AI with search and recommendation capabilities, ChatGPT offers a new way to approach the online shopping experience, more intuitive and personalized.

Although some limitations remain, notably the lack of integrated payment and an incomplete catalog, this feature marks an important step in the transformation of e-commerce by artificial intelligence. As AI assistants like ChatGPT become essential intermediaries between consumers and merchants, the entire online commerce ecosystem could be reinvented.

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