# ChatGPT Shopping Statistics: Product Recommendations, Checkout and AI Commerce 33 numbered stats on how people shop with ChatGPT, what changed with Instant Checkout and how AI shoppers convert, from OpenAI, Adobe and Shopify. _Source: https://mentionova.com/blog/chatgpt-shopping-statistics_ - **Author:** [Jimmy Pal](https://mentionova.com/authors/jimmy-pal), Founder, GTM 8020 - **Published:** 2026-10-31 More than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week, and OpenAI says hundreds of millions of them use it to find, understand and compare products. AI traffic to US retail sites grew 71% year on year in September 2026 and converted 90% better than other traffic, according to Adobe. Below are 33 numbered statistics on ChatGPT shopping, product recommendations, checkout and AI-assisted commerce. Each one is tied to an OpenAI announcement, Adobe Analytics, Shopify data or an original study. All sources were read on 31 October 2026. **[Start a free trial, no card. See whether ChatGPT recommends your products when shoppers ask.](https://app.mentionova.com/login?mode=signup&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=chatgpt-shopping-statistics&utm_content=hero)** ## What are the key takeaways? - **ChatGPT reaches more than 1.2 billion people a week.** OpenAI says they use it to explore ideas, compare options and make decisions (October 2026). - **AI shoppers now convert better than everyone else.** AI traffic to US retail sites converted 90% better than non-AI traffic in September 2026, after converting 9% worse in August 2025 (Adobe). - **Instant Checkout gave way to discovery.** OpenAI launched in-chat checkout in September 2025, then in March 2026 let merchants use their own checkout while it focused on product discovery. - **Selling through ChatGPT carries no OpenAI fee.** OpenAI's merchant page lists no fees on purchases that start in ChatGPT. - **AI-referred orders on Shopify grew nearly 13x** year on year in Q1 2026, and those shoppers converted nearly 50% better than organic search visitors (Shopify). - **Ads are now part of the answer page.** More than 100,000 advertisers have run ChatGPT campaigns, and Similarweb found an ad in about 26% of ChatGPT responses. ## How many people use ChatGPT to shop? More than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week, according to OpenAI. In OpenAI's own usage study, 2.1% of consumer messages asked about purchasable products, and information-seeking requests grew from 14% to 24% of messages in a year. In the US, 44% of adults say they use ChatGPT, per Pew. 1. **More than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week** to explore ideas, compare options and make decisions. Source: [OpenAI, 21 October 2026](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-26-new-countries/). 2. **"Hundreds of millions of people use ChatGPT to find, understand, and compare products,"** OpenAI said when it launched shopping research. Source: [OpenAI, 24 November 2025](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-shopping-research/). 3. **ChatGPT users sent 18 billion messages a week by July 2025**, from 700 million weekly users. Source: [OpenAI and NBER, How People Use ChatGPT](https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/a253471f-8260-40c6-a2cc-aa93fe9f142e/economic-research-chatgpt-usage-paper.pdf). 4. **2.1% of consumer ChatGPT messages are questions about purchasable products**, such as "How much are Nikes?" or "What's the best streaming service?" Source: [OpenAI and NBER, How People Use ChatGPT, Figure 9](https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/a253471f-8260-40c6-a2cc-aa93fe9f142e/economic-research-chatgpt-usage-paper.pdf). 5. **Seeking information grew from 14% to 24% of ChatGPT usage** between July 2024 and July 2025. Source: [OpenAI and NBER, How People Use ChatGPT](https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/a253471f-8260-40c6-a2cc-aa93fe9f142e/economic-research-chatgpt-usage-paper.pdf). 6. **44% of US adults ever use ChatGPT**, the most of any chatbot, against 24% for Gemini. Source: [Pew Research Center, 17 June 2026](https://www.pewresearch.org/chart/chatgpt-tops-the-list-of-chatbots-americans-use-across-age-groups/). Product questions are a small share of a very large total, and they sit inside the fastest-growing use of ChatGPT: looking things up. For more on how buyers research products with AI, see our [AI product research statistics](https://mentionova.com/blog/ai-product-research-statistics). ## What happened to Instant Checkout in ChatGPT? OpenAI launched Instant Checkout on 29 September 2025 with US Etsy sellers, with Shopify merchants to follow. On 24 March 2026 it said the first version "did not offer the level of flexibility" it wanted, and let merchants use their own checkout. Its merchant page now says it is moving away from a standalone Instant Checkout experience. 7. **Instant Checkout launched on 29 September 2025** for US Plus, Pro and Free users buying from US Etsy sellers, with over a million Shopify merchants, including Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx and Vuori, coming next. Source: [OpenAI, Buy it in ChatGPT, 29 September 2025](https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/). 8. **Instant Checkout supported single-item purchases**, and merchants paid a small fee on completed purchases. Source: [OpenAI, 29 September 2025](https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/). 9. **The Agentic Commerce Protocol was co-developed with Stripe and open-sourced** at launch. Source: [OpenAI, 29 September 2025](https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/). 10. **In March 2026 OpenAI let merchants use their own checkout experiences** and refocused on product discovery. Source: [OpenAI, Powering Product Discovery in ChatGPT, 24 March 2026](https://openai.com/index/powering-product-discovery-in-chatgpt/). 11. **There are no fees on purchases that start in ChatGPT**, and purchases are completed on merchant websites or apps. Source: [OpenAI, ChatGPT merchants page](https://chatgpt.com/merchants/). 12. **ChatGPT shopping is live in the US only**, and product feeds can range up to more than 100 million SKUs. Source: [OpenAI, ChatGPT merchants page](https://chatgpt.com/merchants/). | Date | ChatGPT commerce milestone | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | 29 Sep 2025 | Instant Checkout with US Etsy sellers; ACP open-sourced | OpenAI | | 24 Nov 2025 | Shopping research launched for Free, Go, Plus and Pro | OpenAI | | 9 Feb 2026 | Ads test begins in the US on Free and Go | OpenAI | | 24 Mar 2026 | Merchants move to their own checkout; visual product discovery | OpenAI | | 24 Mar 2026 | Millions of Shopify merchants sell via Agentic Storefronts | Shopify | | 21 Oct 2026 | ChatGPT Ads in 89 countries | OpenAI | The direction is clear: ChatGPT wants to be where products are found and compared, and the purchase happens on the merchant's site. ## Which retailers sell through ChatGPT? Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Lowe's, Best Buy, The Home Depot and Wayfair are integrated into the Agentic Commerce Protocol for product discovery, according to OpenAI. Walmart runs its own app inside ChatGPT. Shopify and Etsy catalogs are already integrated, and Shopify says millions of its merchants can now sell to ChatGPT users. 13. **Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Lowe's, Best Buy, The Home Depot and Wayfair** are integrated into ACP for discovery, and Walmart launched an app in ChatGPT with account linking, loyalty and Walmart payments. Source: [OpenAI, 24 March 2026](https://openai.com/index/powering-product-discovery-in-chatgpt/). 14. **Millions of Shopify merchants can sell to ChatGPT users** through Agentic Storefronts, with no transaction fees beyond standard processing and orders attributed to ChatGPT in the Shopify admin. Source: [Shopify, 24 March 2026](https://www.shopify.com/news/agentic-commerce-momentum). 15. **AI searches powered by Shopify Catalog convert at 2x the rate** of those using scraped data. Source: [Shopify Spring '26 Edition, 17 June 2026](https://www.shopify.com/news/spring-26-edition-merchant). Structured product data is now the entry ticket. Our [AI visibility tools for ecommerce](https://mentionova.com/blog/ai-visibility-tools-ecommerce) guide covers how stores track whether that data turns into recommendations. ## How does ChatGPT decide which products to recommend? OpenAI says ChatGPT's product results are organic and unsponsored, ranked on relevance to the user. At the Instant Checkout launch it named availability, price, quality, whether a merchant is the primary seller and whether Instant Checkout was enabled as factors. Shopping research runs on a GPT-5 mini variant trained for shopping tasks. 16. **Product results are organic and unsponsored**, and merchants with Instant Checkout were not preferred in results. Factors included availability, price, quality and whether the merchant is the primary seller. Source: [OpenAI, 29 September 2025](https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/). 17. **Shopping research runs on a version of GPT-5 mini trained with reinforcement learning** for shopping, and is strongest in electronics, beauty, home and garden, kitchen and appliances, and sports and outdoor. Source: [OpenAI, 24 November 2025](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-shopping-research/). 18. **Shopping research results are organic, and chats are not shared with retailers.** Source: [OpenAI, 24 November 2025](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-shopping-research/). 19. **ChatGPT named 5.28 brands and cited 3.66 sources per answer** across 100 software buying questions, more brands than Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews. Source: [GetIntel, 2 August 2026, updated 3 October](https://getintel.ai/blog/ai-engines-brands-named-vs-cited/). GetIntel sells AI visibility software. Five or so brands make a typical ChatGPT shortlist. Price, availability and clear product facts decide who is on it, which our [AI recommendation statistics](https://mentionova.com/blog/ai-recommendation-statistics) explore further. ## How big are ads in ChatGPT? More than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns in ChatGPT since ads launched in February 2026, and ChatGPT Ads now runs in 89 countries. Ads appear only on the Free and Go plans. Similarweb found an ad in about 26% of ChatGPT responses, with about a third of ad impressions in the first response of a session. 20. **Over 100,000 advertisers have run ChatGPT campaigns**, and ads are available in 89 countries. Source: [OpenAI, 21 October 2026](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-26-new-countries/). 21. **The ads test began in the US on 9 February 2026** for logged-in adults on the Free and Go tiers. OpenAI says ads do not influence ChatGPT's answers. Source: [OpenAI, Testing ads in ChatGPT](https://openai.com/index/testing-ads-in-chatgpt/). 22. **About 26% of ChatGPT responses contain an ad**, about a third of ad impressions land in the first response, and a fifth appear ten or more messages into a conversation. Source: [Similarweb, 29 July 2026](https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/). Paid placement now sits next to organic recommendations. A brand that is not named in the answer may still be competing with a rival's ad below it. ## How much traffic does AI send to retailers? Generative AI traffic to US retail sites rose 693.4% year on year in the 2025 holiday season and 71% year on year in September 2026, according to Adobe Analytics. Shopify reports AI referral sessions grew more than 8x and AI-referred orders nearly 13x in Q1 2026. Organic search still sends more sessions overall. 23. **Traffic from generative AI tools to US retail sites rose 693.4%** in the 2025 holiday season, and 670% on Cyber Monday. Source: [Adobe, 7 January 2026](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season). 24. **AI tools were used most for video games, toys, appliances, electronics and personal care** during the 2025 holidays, when US shoppers spent a record $257.8 billion online. Source: [Adobe, 7 January 2026](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season). 25. **Retail saw the biggest AI traffic gain of any industry**: 693% in the 2025 holidays, against 539% for travel, 266% for financial services and 120% for tech and software. Source: [Adobe, 12 January 2026](https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-driven-traffic-surges-across-industries). 26. **AI traffic to US retail sites grew 71% year on year in September 2026**, and has grown every month since October 2024. Source: [Adobe, 29 October 2026](https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-traffic-higher-revenue-per-visit-retail-holiday). 27. **AI-referred orders on Shopify grew nearly 13x year on year in Q1 2026**, and AI chatbot referral sessions grew more than 8x. Source: [Shopify, 11 May 2026](https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/blog/ai-search-insights). 28. **ChatGPT homepage referrals rose from 26% to 29% of its referral traffic to 62% to 63%** after ChatGPT made brand names clickable in May 2026. Source: [Similarweb, 29 July 2026](https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/). For the full channel picture, see our [AI referral traffic statistics](https://mentionova.com/blog/ai-referral-traffic-statistics). ## Do shoppers from ChatGPT convert? Yes, and the gap is widening. Adobe found AI traffic to US retail sites converted 90% better than non-AI traffic in September 2026 and earned 83% more revenue per visit. In August 2025 it converted 9% worse. Shopify reports AI-referred shoppers convert nearly 50% better than organic search and spend 14% more. 29. **AI traffic converted 90% better than non-AI traffic in September 2026**, the highest Adobe has observed, after converting 9% worse in August 2025. Source: [Adobe, 29 October 2026](https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-traffic-higher-revenue-per-visit-retail-holiday). 30. **AI visitors spent 73% more time on site, viewed 25% more pages, added to cart 53% more often and produced 83% more revenue per visit.** Source: [Adobe, 29 October 2026](https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-traffic-higher-revenue-per-visit-retail-holiday). 31. **AI-referred sessions on Shopify convert nearly 50% better than organic search and carry 14% higher average order values.** They beat organic in 23 of 25 merchant categories, and more than half start on a product page, against about 20% for organic. Source: [Shopify, 11 May 2026](https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/blog/ai-search-insights). 32. **81% of shoppers using AI assistants said it improved their shopping experience**, 65% felt more confident in their purchase, and 68% said they were less likely to return it. Source: [Adobe, 12 January 2026](https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-driven-traffic-surges-across-industries). | Metric | AI traffic vs other traffic | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Conversion, Sep 2026 | 90% higher | Adobe | | Conversion, Aug 2025 | 9% lower | Adobe | | Revenue per visit, Sep 2026 | 83% higher | Adobe | | Add-to-cart rate | 53% higher | Adobe | | Conversion vs organic, Q1 2026 | Nearly 50% higher | Shopify | | Average order value vs organic | 14% higher | Shopify | A shopper who arrives from ChatGPT has usually already narrowed the choice. That is why the visit is worth more, and why missing from the answer costs more. ## Can AI assistants read retail websites? Not always. Adobe's Citation Readability Score found the average US retail homepage scores 63%, meaning much of its content is hard for AI to read. Electronics homepages score 79%, grocery 55% and general merchandise homepages 40%. Pages AI cannot read are pages it cannot cite or recommend. 33. **The average US retail homepage scores 63% on Adobe's Citation Readability Score.** Electronics scores 79%, grocery 55% and general merchandise homepages 40%. Source: [Adobe, 29 October 2026](https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-traffic-higher-revenue-per-visit-retail-holiday). Muck Rack found ChatGPT includes citations in 96% of responses ([Muck Rack, What Is AI Reading?, May 2026](https://media.muckrack.com/documents/What_Is_AI_Reading__May_2026.pdf)), and Yext found 85% of OpenAI's citations go to sources a brand can influence ([Yext Research, July 2026](https://www.yext.com/research/articles/ai-citation-behavior-across-models-consistent-source-preferences-across-a-growing-ai-landscape/)). Readable product pages, feeds and listings are the part of that a store controls. ## What do these numbers mean for ecommerce brands? ChatGPT has become a product research step for hundreds of millions of shoppers, and the visits it sends convert better than search. OpenAI has dropped its own checkout fee and pushed purchases back to merchant sites. The competition is now about being named in the answer, not about owning the checkout. Three moves follow from the data: - **Get your catalog into ChatGPT.** Shopify merchants are in via Shopify Catalog; others can apply through chatgpt.com/merchants. No fee applies to purchases that start in ChatGPT. - **Make product pages readable.** With the average retail homepage at 63% on Adobe's readability score, clear specs, prices and availability are the fastest fix. - **Track the shopping prompts that matter.** Our guide to [checking if ChatGPT mentions your brand](https://mentionova.com/blog/how-to-check-if-chatgpt-mentions-your-brand) shows how to test your category's buying questions. **[Track whether ChatGPT recommends your products, prompt by prompt. Start free, no card.](https://app.mentionova.com/login?mode=signup&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=chatgpt-shopping-statistics&utm_content=body)** ## Where does Mentionova fit, and where does it not? Mentionova runs your shoppers' real buying questions through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI, Claude, Gemini and Reddit on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly schedule. Each run logs whether ChatGPT named your brand or product, which rivals it named instead, and which sources it cited, and keeps the history. What it does well: - **Answers "why isn't my brand in ChatGPT?"** You see the competitors ChatGPT recommended and the pages it cited instead of yours. - **Shows why AI cites competitors**, by listing the review sites, retailers and listings behind each answer. - **Compares engines**, so a ChatGPT-only gap is easy to spot. Limits worth knowing: Mentionova tracks brand mentions and citations in answers to the prompts you choose. It does not manage your product feed, ChatGPT ads or checkout. Starter is $99 a month billed annually ($125 monthly) and covers ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google; Scale adds Claude, Gemini and Reddit. See [pricing](https://mentionova.com/pricing). ## Where does each number come from? All sources read on 31 October 2026. - OpenAI: Buy it in ChatGPT (29 September 2025), shopping research (24 November 2025), Testing ads in ChatGPT (9 February 2026, updated 11 August 2026), Powering Product Discovery in ChatGPT (24 March 2026), ChatGPT Ads expansion (21 October 2026) and the ChatGPT merchants page. - OpenAI and NBER, How People Use ChatGPT: sample of about 1.1 million conversations, May 2024 to June 2025. - Adobe: 2025 holiday shopping release (7 January 2026), AI traffic across industries (12 January 2026) and AI traffic and revenue per visit (29 October 2026), based on more than 1 trillion visits to US retail sites. - Shopify: Agentic Storefronts (24 March 2026), AI search insights (11 May 2026), Spring '26 Edition (17 June 2026). - Similarweb, gen AI statistics, 29 July 2026. - Pew Research Center, chatbot use, 17 June 2026. - GetIntel, brands named vs cited, 2 August 2026, updated 3 October 2026. - Muck Rack, What Is AI Reading?, May 2026. Yext Research, July 2026. - Mentionova plan details: mentionova.com/pricing and Mentionova docs. ## What do people ask about ChatGPT shopping? ### Can you buy things directly in ChatGPT? ChatGPT launched Instant Checkout in September 2025, but in March 2026 OpenAI let merchants use their own checkout. Its merchant page says purchases are completed on merchant websites or apps. Walmart runs an app inside ChatGPT with account linking and Walmart payments. ### How does ChatGPT choose which products to show? OpenAI says product results are organic and unsponsored. It has named availability, price, quality and whether the merchant is the primary seller as factors. Shopping research is strongest in electronics, beauty, home and garden, kitchen and appliances, and sports and outdoor. ### Does ChatGPT charge merchants a fee? Not for purchases that start in ChatGPT, according to OpenAI's merchant page. Instant Checkout charged merchants a small fee on completed purchases when it launched in September 2025. Shopify lists no transaction fees beyond standard processing for its Agentic Storefronts. ### Are ChatGPT product recommendations paid ads? No. OpenAI says product results are organic and that ads do not influence answers. Ads appear separately, are labelled as sponsored and run only on the Free and Go plans. Similarweb found an ad in about 26% of ChatGPT responses. ### Why isn't my brand in ChatGPT's product recommendations? ChatGPT names about five brands per buying answer (GetIntel) and leans on sources it can read and trust. If your products are not in a feed ChatGPT uses, your pages are hard to parse, or rivals have stronger reviews and listings, they get named first. Track the prompts to see who wins. ### Does traffic from ChatGPT convert? Yes. Adobe found AI traffic to US retail sites converted 90% better than non-AI traffic in September 2026, with 83% higher revenue per visit. Shopify found AI-referred shoppers convert nearly 50% better than organic search visitors. ### Is ChatGPT shopping available outside the US? Not yet. OpenAI's merchant page says ChatGPT shopping is live in the US only. ChatGPT Ads, a separate product, is available in 89 countries as of October 2026. **[Find out whether ChatGPT recommends your products. Start a free trial, no card.](https://app.mentionova.com/login?mode=signup&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=chatgpt-shopping-statistics&utm_content=close)** --- _Mentionova, https://mentionova.com. Markdown rendering of the page above for AI readers._