ChatGPT adds visual shopping, comparison tools

This is a direct assault on Google and Amazon's search dominance, leveraging conversational depth to solve the "choice paralysis" of modern e-commerce.

• –Specialized shopping model (GPT-5 mini) optimizes for complex constraints like materials and budgets
• –Pivot from "Instant Checkout" to "Merchant Apps" suggests OpenAI is prioritizing discovery over being a direct retailer
• –Interactive refinement (not interested/more like this) creates a high-signal feedback loop for product discovery
• –Heavy reliance on community sentiment (Reddit) and third-party reviews bypasses traditional SEO