Your customers are already asking ChatGPT and Perplexity to find products instead of typing into Google. Traffic to U. S. retail websites from generative AI sources jumped 1,200% year-over-year in early 2025 (Adobe Analytics, 2025). That’s not a trend on the horizon. It’s already reshaping how products get discovered and purchased.
ChatGPT has 800 million weekly active users (TechCrunch, 2025). Perplexity has 45 million active users with 780 million+ monthly queries (DemandSage, 2026). Both now let shoppers discover, compare, and buy products directly inside their interfaces.
For Shopify merchants, the question isn’t whether AI shopping matters. It’s which platform your products need to show up on, and what you need to do to make that happen.
AI Product Search Is Already Here (And Growing Fast)
The shift from keyword-based search to conversational product discovery is accelerating faster than most merchants realize.
58% of consumers have already replaced traditional search engines with generative AI tools for product recommendations (admarketplace, 2025). 47% of consumers say they’re likely to use AI tools to research purchases, up 6 percentage points year-over-year (Capital One Shopping, 2025).
The numbers from the 2025 holiday season tell the story even more clearly: AI referral traffic to retail sites surged 693% year-over-year during the holiday period, and AI referrals converted 31% higher than non-AI traffic sources (Adobe, 2026).
This isn’t just younger shoppers experimenting. 71% of consumers want generative AI integrated into their shopping experiences (Capgemini, 2025). The demand is mainstream.
For Shopify merchants, this means a new discovery channel is opening alongside Google, social media, and marketplaces. Understanding how ChatGPT and Perplexity handle product search differently, and optimizing for both, is becoming as important as traditional SEO. This shift is part of the broader move toward AI agents reshaping ecommerce.
How ChatGPT Handles Product Search
ChatGPT’s shopping features have evolved rapidly since launching in late 2025. Here’s how the full experience works for shoppers and merchants.
Shopping Research (The Discovery Engine)
When a shopper asks ChatGPT something like “what are the best wireless earbuds under $100 for commuting?”, the AI researches products using a combination of its training data and live web search. It generates personalized recommendations based on the user’s preferences, past conversations, and stated needs.
ChatGPT excels in categories like electronics, beauty, home, kitchen, and sports where product specifications and reviews matter. The AI can compare features, weigh trade-offs, and explain why one product might suit a specific user better than another.
Product Cards and Recommendations
ChatGPT displays visual product cards showing pricing, specifications, review ratings, and product images. These cards aren’t static ads. They’re generated recommendations based on the AI’s assessment of what best matches the shopper’s needs.
The AI selects products to recommend using training data, live search results, and the shopper’s conversation history. Memory features let ChatGPT learn user preferences over time, so recommendations improve with each interaction.
Instant Checkout and the Agentic Commerce Protocol
The biggest development: shoppers can now buy products directly inside ChatGPT through Instant Checkout.
This is powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), which works with Shopify’s infrastructure. The flow is seamless: discovery, comparison, and purchase happen in one conversation without leaving ChatGPT. Stripe powers the payment processing, and the merchant remains the merchant of record.
Etsy is already live on Instant Checkout. Over 1 million Shopify merchants are coming to ChatGPT through Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts integration (Shopify, 2025). This protocol is closely related to the Universal Commerce Protocol that Google is also implementing.
Operator and Agentic Shopping
ChatGPT’s Operator feature takes things further by acting as a shopping agent. It can browse Instacart for groceries, check Target for household items, and even place orders on the shopper’s behalf. This is agentic commerce in action: AI agents that don’t just recommend but actually complete purchases.
How Perplexity Handles Product Search
Perplexity takes a fundamentally different approach than ChatGPT. Where ChatGPT blends training data with search, Perplexity is a search-first platform that always cites its sources.
AI-Powered Product Cards
When a shopper asks Perplexity about products, it performs real-time web searches (not relying on training data) to find current pricing, availability, and reviews. Product cards display pricing, specifications, pros and cons, and the specific merchants selling each item.
Every recommendation comes with cited sources. If Perplexity says a product has 4.5-star reviews, it links to where those reviews are. This transparency builds trust for research-heavy purchases where shoppers want to verify claims.
Perplexity also offers Snap to Shop, a visual search feature that lets users photograph a product and find where to buy it online.
Buy with Pro (One-Click Checkout)
Perplexity’s checkout experience is called Buy with Pro. Pro subscribers ($20/month) get one-click checkout with free shipping on all Buy with Pro orders. Payments process through PayPal and Venmo.
Through Perplexity’s partnership with PayPal, over 5,000 merchants are accessible for in-app checkout (PayPal Newsroom, 2025). Partners include brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Ashley Furniture, Fabletics, Adorama, and NewEgg.
Perplexity Merchant Program
The Perplexity Merchant Program is a free program for retailers who want to increase their product visibility. Merchants submit product feeds, get a custom dashboard with search and shopping trend data, and receive free API access.
Joining the program increases the likelihood of your products appearing as “recommended products” in Perplexity’s shopping results. The program focuses on structured product data, which is exactly what AI platforms need to accurately recommend your products. Our guide on what data AI agents need covers these requirements in detail.
ChatGPT vs Perplexity for Shopping: Head-to-Head Comparison
Here’s every major dimension compared side by side:
| Feature | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Data Source | Training data + live web search | Live web search only |
| Product Cards | Visual cards with specs and reviews | Visual cards with pros/cons and cited sources |
| Checkout | Instant Checkout (ACP/Stripe) | Buy with Pro (PayPal/Venmo) |
| Shipping Perks | Standard merchant shipping | Free shipping on all Buy with Pro orders |
| Merchant Setup | Shopify Agentic Storefronts | Merchant Program + product feeds |
| Cost to Merchant | Free (via Shopify integration) | Free (Merchant Program) |
| Cost to Shopper | Free for all users | Pro required for checkout ($20/month) |
| User Scale | 800M weekly active users | 45M monthly active users |
| Personalization | Memory-based, learns preferences | Query-based, no persistent memory |
| Source Citations | Sometimes links sources | Always cites sources |
| Visual Search | No | Yes (Snap to Shop) |
| Agent Shopping | Yes (Operator for multi-site browsing) | No |
| Best For | Broad discovery, casual browsing | Research-heavy, intentional purchases |
The Key Difference
ChatGPT is a discovery engine. It’s like walking into a mall with a knowledgeable friend who remembers what you bought last time and suggests things you might like. The experience is broad, personalized, and conversational.
Perplexity is a research tool. It’s like having a product analyst who checks every source, compares every price, and shows you exactly where each piece of information comes from. The experience is thorough, cited, and fact-focused.
For shoppers, this means different tools for different shopping moments. For merchants, it means different optimization strategies.
What This Means for Your Shopify Store
Both platforms are free for merchants. The optimization work overlaps significantly. Here’s the specific playbook for each.
Get Visible on ChatGPT
ChatGPT integrates with Shopify through Agentic Storefronts, which means your products can syndicate to ChatGPT (along with Microsoft Copilot and other AI platforms) from a single setup in your Shopify admin.
Steps:
- Enable Shopify Agentic Storefronts in your admin (Winter ’26 Edition)
- Complete all product attributes in Shopify Catalog: titles, descriptions, specifications, materials, sizing
- Ensure product images are high-quality with descriptive alt text
- Collect and display customer reviews (aggregated review data helps AI recommendations)
- Keep pricing and inventory data current (stale data means no recommendations)
The Agentic Storefronts setup is one toggle per platform. Once enabled, your Shopify Catalog becomes the product data source that ChatGPT uses to generate recommendations and power Instant Checkout.
Get Visible on Perplexity
Perplexity’s Merchant Program is separate from Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts. You’ll need to join directly.
Steps:
- Join the Perplexity Merchant Program at perplexity.ai (free)
- Submit product feeds with complete structured data
- Add Schema.org markup to product pages: Product + Offer + Review + AggregateRating
- Include GTINs/UPCs on all products
- Enable PayPal checkout for Buy with Pro integration
- Maintain accurate, real-time pricing and inventory data
The Merchant Program gives you a custom dashboard with search and shopping trends, showing what shoppers are asking about in your product categories.
Structured Data Is the New SEO
Both platforms share one fundamental requirement: clean, structured product data.
Schema.org markup, complete product feeds, rich attributes (specifications, materials, use cases), accurate pricing, and real-time inventory. These are the signals that AI platforms use to decide which products to recommend.
Traditional SEO focused on keywords. AI product search focuses on data completeness and accuracy. The merchants who treat their product data like a strategic asset will outperform those who still think in keywords.
Google is also moving in this direction with ads in AI Mode and UCP-powered checkout. The structured data you prepare for ChatGPT and Perplexity will also benefit your visibility in Google’s AI shopping features.
Which Platform Should Shopify Merchants Prioritize?
The short answer: optimize for both, but understand what each one does best.
ChatGPT for volume. With 800 million weekly users, ChatGPT represents the largest potential audience. Even if a small percentage uses shopping features, the absolute numbers are massive. ChatGPT excels at broad product discovery where shoppers are exploring options without a firm purchase intent.
Perplexity for intent. Perplexity’s 45 million users skew toward research-heavy shoppers who are closer to a purchase decision. The cited-source approach attracts buyers who want to verify before they buy. These shoppers convert at higher rates because they’ve done their homework.
The real answer: one Shopify Catalog setup covers ChatGPT (plus Copilot and other platforms) through Agentic Storefronts. The Perplexity Merchant Program requires separate enrollment but takes minimal time. Together, they position your products across the two dominant AI shopping platforms.
65% of consumers using AI for shopping report higher purchase confidence, and 68% are less likely to return products (Adobe, 2026). AI-assisted purchases lead to happier customers with fewer returns. That’s a revenue quality improvement, not just a traffic play.
Your Action Checklist for This Week
- Enable Agentic Storefronts in Shopify admin (covers ChatGPT, Copilot, and more)
- Join the Perplexity Merchant Program at perplexity.ai
- Audit your product data: complete titles, detailed descriptions, specifications, materials
- Add Schema.org markup: Product + Offer + Review + AggregateRating on all product pages
- Check inventory accuracy: both platforms penalize stale or inaccurate stock data
Frequently Asked Questions
Can shoppers buy products directly on ChatGPT?
Yes. ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout lets shoppers purchase products without leaving the conversation. It’s powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol with Stripe handling payments. Etsy is live now, and over 1 million Shopify merchants are joining through Agentic Storefronts.
Is Perplexity shopping free for shoppers?
Product search and recommendations are free for all Perplexity users. However, the Buy with Pro checkout feature (including free shipping) requires a Perplexity Pro subscription at $20/month.
How do I get my Shopify products on ChatGPT?
Enable Shopify Agentic Storefronts in your admin (available since Winter ’26 Edition). This syndicates your product catalog to ChatGPT and other AI platforms. Ensure your product data is complete with titles, descriptions, specs, images, and reviews.
How do I get my products on Perplexity?
Join the free Perplexity Merchant Program, submit your product feeds with structured data, add Schema.org markup to your product pages, and enable PayPal checkout for Buy with Pro integration.
Which AI platform converts better for ecommerce?
AI referrals overall convert 31% higher than non-AI traffic sources. Perplexity users tend to be more research-oriented with higher purchase intent per session. ChatGPT offers vastly larger reach (800M vs 45M users). Smart merchants optimize for both.
Do I need to pay to list products on either platform?
No. Both platforms are free for merchants. ChatGPT integration happens through Shopify Agentic Storefronts (included with your Shopify plan). The Perplexity Merchant Program is also free.
What product data do ChatGPT and Perplexity need?
Both platforms need complete, accurate product data: detailed titles and descriptions, specifications, high-quality images, pricing, inventory status, customer reviews, and Schema.org markup. The quality of your data directly determines whether AI recommends your products.
Is AI shopping replacing Google for product search?
Not replacing, but supplementing. 58% of consumers have used AI tools instead of traditional search for product recommendations. Google is responding with its own AI Mode shopping features. Merchants should optimize for all three channels.
What is the Agentic Commerce Protocol?
The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is the infrastructure that enables AI platforms like ChatGPT to offer seamless checkout. It standardizes how AI agents connect with merchants for product discovery, comparison, and purchase completion.
Can ChatGPT remember my customers’ preferences?
ChatGPT uses memory features to learn individual user preferences over time. If a shopper previously told ChatGPT they prefer sustainable products or specific brands, future recommendations reflect those preferences. This personalization improves recommendation quality over time.
The Bottom Line
ChatGPT and Perplexity are building two different visions of AI shopping. ChatGPT is the broad discovery platform with massive reach and personalized recommendations. Perplexity is the research-first platform with cited sources and intentional buyers.
For Shopify merchants, the strategy is straightforward:
- Enable Agentic Storefronts to get on ChatGPT and other AI platforms (one toggle in your admin)
- Join the Perplexity Merchant Program for research-oriented shoppers (free enrollment)
- Invest in product data quality because structured data is what both platforms use to decide which products to recommend
- Monitor AI referral traffic in your analytics to measure which platform drives more revenue for your store
The AI shopping market, driven by emerging agentic commerce platforms, hit $4.26 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $36.38 billion by 2034 (Straits Research, 2025). The merchants who get visible on these platforms now will capture the wave. The ones who wait will wonder where their traffic went.
AI revenue per visit increased 254% year-over-year during the 2025 holiday season (Adobe, 2026). The ROI is real. The channel is growing. For platform-specific AI features, see our BigCommerce vs Shopify AI comparison. And the setup takes less than an hour.
About Akash Radadiya
