The news: OpenAI introduced a shopping research feature for ChatGPT that builds personalized buying guides based on user queries and past conversations.

The feature is available to all ChatGPT users, including those on free plans; OpenAI is offering “nearly unlimited usage” throughout the holiday season.

How it works: The feature comes up automatically when users ask ChatGPT shopping-related questions, or it can be selected from the tools menu.

• Users can start with general queries, such as “help me find a powerful new laptop,” and then refine the results by answering questions about preferred budgets and other specifications.
• For now, users will have to navigate to merchants’ external websites using the links provided to complete their purchase; OpenAI will eventually integrate Instant Checkout into the feature.

It does come with caveats: OpenAI notes the tool “might make mistakes about product details like price and availability,” and is best for “detail-heavy categories” like electronics, appliances, and beauty.

Our take: Making the tool widely available at no cost suggests that OpenAI is looking to get users to rely on ChatGPT for purchase decisions, which could eventually result in greater buy-in for its agentic checkout features.

However, it’s up against stiff competition.

• Perplexity went one step further by rolling out a free agentic shopping tool to all users ahead of Black Friday, powered by PayPal.
• Google debuted agentic checkout and other conversational shopping tools earlier this month, and it has a clear advantage given the number of consumers who already rely on its search engine to conduct shopping research.
• Amazon is enhancing its genAI tools, including its Rufus chatbot, and launching features like Help Me Decide to keep shoppers from seeking assistance from AI platforms.

Still, the demand is there. Shopping gained more share of mobile ChatGPT queries than any other topic tracked by Sensor Tower in the six months from December 2024 to June 2025. Consumers may not be fully on board with the idea of agentic commerce, but they are interested in AI tools that can help improve the shopping experience.