In the last days of 2024 OpenAI announced “Buy with ChatGPT”, transforming its chatbot into a shopping assistant: it recommends products, shows prices and reviews, and allows direct purchases within the chat thanks to partners like Shopify, Instacart and Klarna. The goal is no longer just to provide answers, but to capture and monetise purchase intent from users. According to Reuters and TechCrunch, OpenAI is developing its own internal checkout system, earning a fee on every completed sale (commissions of around 2% are mentioned).
This strategic choice represents a clear break from Google’s advertising model: instead of selling clicks or sponsored spaces, OpenAI aims to convert conversations directly into sales, becoming the intermediary that captures value where previously search engines, affiliate sites and comparison platforms operated. I believe it is a pincer movement:
- Divert search demand away from Google – ChatGPT becomes the entry point for many product queries (“what’s the best smartwatch under €200?”), shifting traffic that used to pass through Google Search and Google Shopping without “polluting” it with ad placements
- Monetise directly through affiliation and commissions – Instead of search ads, OpenAI aims to earn from the transaction itself, through fees or revenue-share with merchants.
In essence: less traditional search, more conversation, and more margins retained by the assistant.
The model attacks not only Google but also strikes at the heart of affiliate marketing. Until now, blogs, magazines and review sites earned by directing traffic to retailers via tracked links. With ChatGPT reading that content and delivering the recommendation directly, the user no longer visits the source site: no visit = no commission. This risks disintermediating a significant share of publishers and diverting to OpenAI the revenue that was previously based on referral links and performance marketing.
The same applies to comparison platforms: the user no longer needs to open Idealo or similar if ChatGPT can show updated prices and reliable retailers in real time. Until now affiliation monetised this phase through ads and product feeds; now ChatGPT offers a zero-click experience and retains purchase intent, reducing the need to search elsewhere. BUT this also means that those who live on affiliations and advertising risk a drastic drop in traffic. ChatGPT is already the article: it synthesises reviews and product pages without linking back to the source. Some publishers are responding with content licensing agreements (e.g. Gruppo Gedi in Italy) to avoid being excluded from the new ecosystem. Creators will need to focus on direct communities, video/podcast formats and new AI SEO/AIO techniques (optimising content so AI cites and recognises it).
The classic journey of search → comparison → site → checkout is compressed into a single “conversation journey”: ask, compare, choose and buy all within chat. Control of conversion passes to OpenAI, which decides which products to display. For brands the new challenge is being visible in the AI’s algorithm and providing updated feeds (Shopify is already preparing optimised product cards for ChatGPT’s product index).
With “Buy with ChatGPT” OpenAI not only threatens Google’s core business (search and advertising), but attempts to capture value more directly, monetising purchase intent with a model akin to integrated affiliation. This shakes the entire ecosystem: comparison sites and affiliates risk irrelevance; publishers must renegotiate their role and revenues; marketers must learn AI Optimization to appear among the assistant’s recommendations. For brands, the opportunity is enormous (new conversational channels, shorter funnels), but it requires rethinking SEO, advertising and customer management in an environment where the entry point is an AI that decides what to show.
As my partner Francesco says: It will probably be good for vendors, for investors, for companies, perhaps even for consumers. Still, consumption keeps eating the world”.
