ChatGPT surpasses Google as shopping gateway, Amazon builds Rufus

Shopping in Chat Is the Next Frontier of E-Commerce? Walmart + ChatGPT just made a move that shifts the entire landscape. They’re launching Shopping in Chat — meaning users can now buy directly inside ChatGPT with an instant checkout. No website. No redirect. Just chat → choose → checkout. And it’s not stopping there: Etsy’s already live. Shopify’s next. For merchants, that means discovery, recommendation, and checkout could all happen in one place — inside AI chat. Meanwhile, Amazon’s putting up walls. They’ve blocked AI crawlers, cutting ChatGPT off from their catalog data. Traffic from ChatGPT → Amazon is dropping. Traffic from ChatGPT → Walmart is climbing fast (now ~15%). Amazon’s betting on its internal AI “Rufus” to keep buyers inside its ecosystem. But that also means this: The battle for buyer attention just left the Amazon search bar. 🧠 Here’s the shift most sellers haven’t caught yet: The AI chat interface is becoming the new homepage. Consumers will default to asking ChatGPT what to buy — not typing keywords into Amazon or Google. So all the old rules — SEO, PPC, keyword dominance — start losing power. The new question is: “How do I show up inside AI recommendations?” That’s the next frontier. Your thoughts? ✨ We cover updates like this every Monday in our Weekly Amazon Newsletter → https://lnkd.in/e9Bm98bk  📩 Subscribe so you don’t miss the next one.

🚨 AI is reshaping retail traffic 🚨 ChatGPT is quickly becoming a major force in online shopping referrals. In August, it drove: 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic 20%+ for Etsy 15% for Target 10% for eBay While referral clicks are still a small slice of overall visits, the speed of growth signals a big shift: shoppers are starting journeys inside AI chats instead of Google. Meanwhile, Amazon is playing defense. By blocking AI crawlers, it’s steering users toward its own chatbot, Rufus, while rivals like Walmart and eBay ride the ChatGPT wave. The stakes are high: OpenAI is exploring checkout and affiliate monetization inside ChatGPT. Free referral traffic for retailers may not last. 📊 Nearly 60% of U.S. consumers already use generative AI for shopping help. This is only the beginning of “agentic shopping,” where bots buy on our behalf. 👉 The takeaway: AI is no longer just influencing discovery — it’s becoming a central player in the commerce ecosystem. Retailers that adapt early will have an edge.

The way we shop online is changing fast. ChatGPT is already driving 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic—and helping consumers find products at Target, Etsy, and eBay, too. Amazon is taking a different route, blocking AI crawlers and betting on its own bot, Rufus. As AI-powered shopping agents grow, they could upend traffic, advertising, and e-commerce as we know it. #AI #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerBehavior #Amazon #Walmart

The way we shop online is changing fast. ChatGPT is already driving 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic—and helping consumers find products at Target, Etsy, and eBay, too. Amazon is taking a different route, blocking AI crawlers and betting on its own bot, Rufus. As AI-powered shopping agents grow, they could upend traffic, advertising, and e-commerce as we know it. #AI #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerBehavior #Amazon #Walmart

The way we shop online is changing fast. ChatGPT is already driving 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic—and helping consumers find products at Target, Etsy, and eBay, too. Amazon is taking a different route, blocking AI crawlers and betting on its own bot, Rufus. As AI-powered shopping agents grow, they could upend traffic, advertising, and e-commerce as we know it. #AI #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerBehavior #Amazon #Walmart

The way we shop online is changing fast. ChatGPT is already driving 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic—and helping consumers find products at Target, Etsy, and eBay, too. Amazon is taking a different route, blocking AI crawlers and betting on its own bot, Rufus. As AI-powered shopping agents grow, they could upend traffic, advertising, and e-commerce as we know it. #AI #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerBehavior #Amazon #Walmart

Earlier this year, when ChatGPT went down, something else went up: Google searches for ‘Is ChatGPT down?’ It shot into the top trending list; a wake-up call on just how deeply ChatGPT had woven itself into people’s daily lives. That same dependency is now reshaping retail traffic patterns; and the data makes the case. 1. Referral traffic is usually a rounding error — under 5% of retailer site visits, dwarfed by direct, search, and paid channels. 2. In August, ChatGPT vaulted into the top tier of referral sources: 20% of Etsy’s, 15% of Target’s, 10% of eBay’s, and 20% of Walmart’s referral clicks. 3. That surge shows consumers are starting to trust ChatGPT answers as much as they once trusted Google search results. In fact, research shows ~2% of all ChatGPT queries are shopping-related — which translates to nearly 50 million shopping questions a day. 4. In an AI-mediated marketplace, if retailers don’t make their content accessible, they’re cutting themselves off from demand. Case in point: Amazon, by blocking AI crawlers, saw its referrals from ChatGPT fall 18% to below 3% — effectively handing traffic to rivals. 5. Today, ChatGPT is funneling traffic to big, established retailers; but that dominance won’t last once others start optimizing for AI. So what? For Retailers: Those that embrace AI findability early will lock in compounding advantage; those that don’t will watch shopper flow slip away. That means investing now in AI-ready content, structured product data, and partnerships with platforms shaping consumer discovery. For CPG brands: The battleground shifts upstream. If your products don’t show up in AI answers, it’s the modern equivalent of not showing up on the shelf. Brands must work hand-in-glove with retail partners to clean up product data, enrich content, and ensure AI can ‘see’ and recommend their SKUs. #AI in #retail and #cpg

AI is reshaping retail discovery. ChatGPT now accounts for 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic, with Target, Etsy, and eBay also seeing significant boosts. As consumers turn to AI-driven shopping agents over traditional search, the retail landscape faces major disruption. Amazon, however, is charting its own path by blocking AI crawlers and building its chatbot, Rufus. #AI #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerBehavior #Amazon #Walmart

AI is reshaping retail discovery. ChatGPT now accounts for 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic, with Target, Etsy, and eBay also seeing significant boosts. As consumers turn to AI-driven shopping agents over traditional search, the retail landscape faces major disruption. Amazon, however, is charting its own path by blocking AI crawlers and building its chatbot, Rufus. #AI #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerBehavior #Amazon #Walmart

AI is reshaping retail discovery. ChatGPT now accounts for 20% of Walmart’s referral traffic, with Target, Etsy, and eBay also seeing significant boosts. As consumers turn to AI-driven shopping agents over traditional search, the retail landscape faces major disruption. Amazon, however, is charting its own path by blocking AI crawlers and building its chatbot, Rufus. #AI #DigitalTransformation #ConsumerBehavior #Amazon #Walmart