OpenAI takes a “small merchant fee” on completed purchases—not clicks, not impressions, only actual transactions.
This is the anti-Google play: no advertising, purely organic results ranked by relevance. With 900M weekly users and an 11.4% conversion rate (nearly 2× direct traffic), OpenAI is betting that users trust unsponsored recommendations more than ad-laden ones.
The challenge: building commerce infrastructure from scratch. “Still working with merchants on standardizing data.”
From Discovery to Transaction Fee (4 Steps)
User Discovers: Organic results, no ads, no sponsors (“best wireless headphones?”)
Checkout In-Chat: Never leave ChatGPT interface (Sony WH-1000XM5, $299.99)
Purchase Completes: Retailer fulfills the order, “Order Confirmed!”
OpenAI Takes Fee: Small %, refunded if returned
Why This Model Could Win
Advantage
Detail
No Ads = User Trust
Results are organic and unsponsored—pure relevance. “No advertising in results” — OpenAI official statement
11.4% Conversion
Nearly 2× the 6% rate from direct website visits. Higher intent traffic (Source: SimilarWeb 2025)
900M Weekly Users
vs. Gemini’s 650M monthly—largest AI user base. ChatGPT market leadership = distribution advantage
What OpenAI Still Needs to Build
Infrastructure Gap:
Data standardization: “Still working with merchants on standardizing product data”
Product catalog:Google has 50B+ products indexed; OpenAI starting from scratch
Merchant relationships: No existing retailer network or billing infrastructure
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
