The Maze: OpenAI has opened a beta that lets eligible businesses in markets where ChatGPT is available claim a business profile. Once verified, a retailer can update its details and supply a product feed, a list of items with fields such as price and stock. That gives stores a direct way to correct the information ChatGPT can use when someone asks where to shop. The November 10 launch also gives eligible US online stores and online service businesses the option to publish a Business Agent, an AI chat that answers questions on the company’s behalf.
Source: OpenAI. OpenAI’s demo shows a toy store’s verified profile beside a ChatGPT answer, with options to start a chat or visit the store’s site.
The details
🏪 Claim the listing, then maintain it. A merchant starts in Business Hub, the dashboard for managing its profile. Once OpenAI verifies the business, the merchant can update its information and send prices and stock in a product feed. The verification methods vary by business type and market, OpenAI told TechCrunch. Shopify merchants can connect their store to streamline verification. Shopify Catalog was already supplying eligible products to ChatGPT in March, so the new work for those stores is managing the profile and checking what it says.
💬 The shopper chooses to start a separate chat. In OpenAI’s example, a shopper opens a merchant’s profile from a ChatGPT answer. If that merchant has published an agent, the shopper can start a clearly labeled conversation with the business. A toy store could use it to explain which drawing kit suits a six-year-old. The merchant can test those answers before publishing and is responsible for keeping its information accurate. When the shopper is ready to buy, the agent directs them to the merchant’s site, OpenAI told Digiday.
📊 The dashboard stops at engagement. Business Hub combines activity across users. Merchants can see mentions, website clicks and recurring topics in conversations where their site was cited, once activity clears reporting thresholds. OpenAI told Digiday how it counts them. For an online store, a mention requires a reference to its website. A click is a tap on a link in a supported part of ChatGPT. The beta also leaves out share of voice, which would tell a retailer how often it appears compared with competitors. The store needs its own analytics to see completed visits and orders. It can’t read individual chats, including those with its own Business Agent.
Our take
Start by checking what ChatGPT says about prices, stock and policies. An eligible US merchant can then decide whether a separate product chat is worth maintaining. Those jobs have different costs and different ways to tell if the work paid off.
💳 Keep profile work separate from the ad budget. OpenAI tested Sponsored Agents with selected US advertisers in September. A shopper could open a brand chat by clicking an ad. The November beta adds the profile as another way in. Digiday reported that the profile tools and Business Agents are free at launch. OpenAI says the claim itself gives a business no boost in how often it appears. Better product data could help ChatGPT recognize when the store is relevant to a shopper’s question. Test whether the listing answers shoppers’ questions accurately before budgeting for a lift in traffic. A sponsored placement has a separate cost and needs its own measure of return.
🧰 Maintain the answers wherever shoppers ask. Google brought branded product chats to Search with selected US retailers in January, giving retailers another place to answer the same product questions. A team trying both could maintain one set of product facts and return policies, then test how each chat explains them. If a retailer changes its return window, someone has to check the answer and the page the shopper lands on. Keeping those facts in sync is a more immediate job than trying to infer which platform will send more buyers.
Sources: OpenAI launch · TechCrunch · OpenAI product discovery · OpenAI Business Agents Policy · Digiday · OpenAI advertising launch · Google
