OpenAI’s New Shopping Features
OpenAI has launched new shopping features that aim to give users a more personalised, ad-free experience. These updates are being rolled out to all ChatGPT users, whether you are on the free plan or a paid one.
It feels like a direct move to challenge Google’s control over shopping search. Not only does it sound promising, but OpenAI also confirmed it will not take commissions on purchases made through the platform, which definitely adds to the appeal.
My Findings
As the feature is now rolling out, I thought it would be a good time to test it and see how it actually works. I decided to get ChatGPT to help me find some fashion recommendations. Pretty quickly, I realised that to get properly tailored suggestions, you need to feed it quite a bit of information.
When you use it for fashion, ChatGPT creates a “Style Card” where you can save your preferences like colour choices, fits, and aesthetics. The idea is that this should guide future recommendations. While it sounds great, I found that in reality, it forgets a lot and needs constant reminders. You can definitely end up with something good, like a shirt you would not have found otherwise, but it takes more work than you might expect.
Improving the Results
After a while, it became clear that ChatGPT was not finding things that matched my style well enough. So I tried a new approach. I fed it some photos of myself wearing outfits I like, along with screenshots of recent purchases. That made a real difference. About three out of five suggestions were actually good.
One thing I liked about the process was that it forced me to be more critical about what I did and did not like. You can sometimes get that clarity through Google searches too, but the instant variety of options here made it much faster to reach a decision.
The Pros and cons
One of the standout features is the ability to set things like budget. I gave ChatGPT a price limit of £80, and it stuck to it, showing only products that matched my style and stayed within what I asked for, without any ads getting in the way.
However, some features are not quite as described. OpenAI has said you will get direct links to product pages, but at the moment, it gives you product names you have to search for yourself. It still leads you to what you want, but it is not as smooth or seamless as promised. It feels like this part is still being rolled out.
Final Thoughts
This new feature definitely has huge potential. It feels like a genuine step towards challenging Google’s hold on shopping search. But for now, it does not fully live up to the promises.
While I did find clothes I liked that fit my style, it took about an hour and a half of back and forth, refining, and feedback to get there. Given that the idea was to save time and streamline shopping, that part was a bit disappointing.
Overall, it is a good step forward, and with some improvements, it could genuinely change how people shop online. But at the moment, it is not quite the instant, user-first experience it is being sold as.