“Branded search was a tax we all paid. This is now even closer to payment.” — Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge
Merchants face an impossible choice: pay Google for visibility (ads) or pay OpenAI for conversion (transaction fees). Both extract value from the merchant—just at different points in the funnel.
The question isn’t which tax is better. It’s whether AI commerce creates enough incremental value to justify the cost. The math changes based on your margins, AOV, and return rate.
How Each Platform Extracts Value
Google’s Tax: Pay for Visibility
Pay whether or not user buys
Predictable ad spend budgets
Spend more = more visibility
0% transaction fee
Who wins: High-margin, high-AOV products (can absorb CPC as marketingcost)
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.
