How Is OpenAI Venturing Into ECommerce?

OpenAI has started to venture deeper into ecommerce through new shopping features in ChatGPT. The company announced that a service called shopping research is now available for logged in users on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans. It lets shoppers ask for help finding products and turns the process into a guided chat. The tool checks prices, availability, reviews and images across retail sites and then builds a buyer guide within a few minutes.

Since hundreds of millions of people already use ChatGPT to compare products, this new tool now takes that interest and turns it into something closer to a personal shopping assistant. Users describe what they want and then answer follow up questions about budget or features. ChatGPT searches the web and returns products that fit those needs. Displays show that it works especially well in categories like beauty, electronics, kitchen items and outdoor gear.

The company said it is making this feature almost unlimited through the holiday season. It sees the feature as the start of a bigger shift toward more guided shopping inside the app. It is also offering the tool inside ChatGPT Pulse for Pro users, where the tool can suggest buyer guides based on past conversations.

How Does This Change The Shopping Experience?

Shopping research runs on a special version of GPT 5 mini that has been trained for shopping tasks. OpenAI said it read trusted sites and merged details from across the web to deliver more accurate choices. Internal tests shared by OpenAI list product accuracy scores of 52% for the new tool compared to 56% for GPT 5 Thinking and 37% for GPT 5 Thinking mini. ChatGPT Search came in at 64% on the same measure.

The tool builds a visual interface where shoppers can send feedback and guide the search. Users can say “more like this” or “not interested” and the tool adjusts the next set of results. After the research ends, ChatGPT presents a buyer guide with the top items and the differences between them. Users can click out to retailers to buy the product. The company said that Instant Checkout will soon allow direct purchases for merchants taking part in that feature.

OpenAI added that it never shares chat data with retailers and reads only public retail pages. Merchants can use an allow list system if they want to appear in results. The company also said that mistakes can happen, especially around availability and price, so users should always confirm details on the retailer site.

How Does Target Fit Into These Ventures?

OpenAI is building ecommerce partnerships as well. The company announced a new partnership with Target, which will place a Target app inside ChatGPT. Target said that this will let shoppers search for products, build baskets with several items and check out using Drive Up, Order Pickup or delivery.

Target said that everything in its retail model starts with guest needs. The retailer wants to meet shoppers across new digital spaces, and ChatGPT is one of them. Prat Vemana, Target’s chief information and product officer, said that the idea is to make the experience feel as natural as chatting with a friend. A shopper might ask for help planning a holiday movie night and get a curated list of blankets, snacks and slippers that can be added to their cart instantly.

The partnership also runs deep on the workplace side. Target said that it uses ChatGPT Enterprise for productivity across headquarters. The number of employees using it now sits at 18,000. The retailer also uses OpenAI tools to speed up supply chain planning, store processes and digital personalisation. Tools like Agent Assist and Store Companion help staff answer guest requests and even start returns or price match checks.

Target sees value in placing AI inside its everyday work. Guest Assist and JOY help vendor partners get quicker answers, with JOY trained on more than 3,000 FAQs. The new set of tools helps Target answer shoppers faster and free up teams for tasks that need more human attention.