GPT-4o & AI shopping: New opportunities for Shopware merchants
The way products are discovered in ecommerce is undergoing a fundamental shift. With GPT-4o, ChatGPT now offers built-in shopping capabilities that display product recommendations directly within the chat experience. For online merchants, this presents a major opportunity – but also a challenge: How can you make sure your products are visible in these new AI-powered recommendations? In this article, we’ll explain what GPT-4o’s shopping features mean and how online retailers can start optimizing their product data today.
GPT-4o: AI shopping as a new sales channel
With GPT-4o, AI-powered product recommendations have reached a new level. Users can now receive product suggestions directly within the chat interface in response to queries like “best vegan sneakers under €100” – including product names, prices, and links to online shops.
Important: GPT-4o currently does not display paid product placements. Instead, it relies on organic content from across the web – and does so in real time. As soon as product details like price or availability change, the AI’s recommendation output can adjust accordingly.
GPT-4o pulls information from multiple sources: • Product information from structured feeds (e.g., Schema.org) • Product data from third-party providers like Google Shopping, Amazon, or other platforms • Customer reviews and product ratings • Web content indexed by OpenAI’s own crawlers
OpenAI explains in detail how these recommendations are generated.
What does this mean for online merchants?
Right now is a crucial moment for online merchants to increase their product visibility through a new channel. It’s no longer just about ranking on Google – it’s about whether AI can understand your offering, interpret it as trustworthy, and place it in the right context.
Only those who structure their product data clearly and make it accessible to AI systems have a chance of appearing in GPT-4o’s recommendations. In concrete terms, this means using Schema.org elements like Product, Offer, and AggregateRating to make product names, prices, availability, and reviews machine-readable. The more detailed and consistent your data, the better GPT-4o can identify your products and recommend them to potential customers.
You’ll find more actionable tips below – but first, let’s take a look at how ChatGPT’s shopping functionality could impact different industries.
Big opportunities for mid-market businesses and key industries
Mid-market merchants in particular stand to benefit from GPT-4o – because here, it’s not about ad spend or brand recognition. What counts are transparent product information, authentic reviews, and well-structured content. AI shopping levels the playing field, especially for specialized merchants with strong product data.
At Shopware, we see strong potential for AI-powered product discovery across several industries:
🎧 Consumer electronics
Whether it’s tools or tech, customers compare extensively – and that’s exactly what makes GPT-4o so relevant for this category. Merchants who provide precise technical specifications, transparent pricing, and trustworthy reviews are much more likely to be recommended as the “best value for money” product.
Examples: “Which noise-cancelling headphones under €200 are rated best?” or “Which headphones have the longest battery life?”
👡 Fashion & footwear
In fashion, many shoppers already know exactly what they’re looking for – whether it’s a “beige cotton mini skirt” or “vegan sneakers made in Germany.” GPT-4o is able to process these detailed and value-based queries and recommend products that match. Niche items with attributes like “sustainable,” “fair trade,” or “locally made” stand out – as long as that information is clearly structured in your product data and reinforced by reviews.
Examples: “Which vegan sneakers are the most durable?” or “Which sneakers were most recommended in 2025?”
Screenshot from a ChatGPT conversation. For legal reasons, purchase recommendations have been blurred out.
🛋️ Home & living
In the home & living category, reviews and real-life product experiences play a major role. How high-quality does a material feel? How easy is it to assemble the furniture? How practical is a solution in everyday use? GPT-4o picks up on exactly these kinds of signals from customer reviews. Merchants who communicate transparently, provide well-structured product data, and collect genuine reviews are more likely to be recommended – quickly and accurately.
Examples: “Which sideboard is durable and looks modern?” or “Which dresser is easy to assemble?”
💄 Beauty & wellness
In the beauty world, shoppers often search for specific ingredients, skin types, or sensitivities – such as a “fragrance-free moisturizer for sensitive skin” or a “vegan serum with retinol.” GPT-4o understands these requirements, as well as the overall sentiment expressed in reviews. If a product is frequently described as “soothes dry skin” or “absorbs quickly,” it’s more likely to be recommended. Merchants who clearly communicate ingredients, benefits, and authentic experiences can significantly boost their visibility in AI-driven results.
Examples: “Which moisturizer is best for sensitive skin?” or “Which skincare product offers the best value for money?”
Why these industries benefit most
Whether it’s tech, fashion, or personal care – shoppers in these categories tend to make highly intentional decisions. They compare, ask specific questions, and rely heavily on real user feedback. This is exactly where GPT-4o excels: Products that are clearly described, well-reviewed, and structured in a machine-readable way have the highest chances of showing up at the top of AI-powered recommendations.
3 tips to boost your visibility in the AI shopping era
You’re probably wondering: How can I quickly take advantage of this opportunity and get my products found via ChatGPT? Here are three actionable tips to help you get started:
1. Allow crawler access
For your products to even have a chance of being recommended by GPT-4o, the relevant AI crawlers need access to your shop pages. Two bots are especially important: OAI-SearchBot (for AI search indexing) and ChatGPT-User (for user-driven queries). Make sure both are allowed in your robots.txt.
You can find OpenAI’s official crawler documentation here: OpenAI crawler overview
2. Encourage meaningful reviews
ChatGPT analyzes customer reviews to assign helpful labels. If reviews frequently include phrases like “great quality” or “good value for money,” GPT-4o interprets those as positive signals. That’s why it’s essential to encourage genuine, detailed reviews – and to embed them using Schema.org markup.
The best approach is to ask your customers directly for feedback – e.g., in a follow-up email after purchase. Ask specific questions like: “What did you like most about the product?” or “Would you recommend it – and why?” This kind of input creates reviews with real substance, which GPT-4o can understand and use more effectively.
3. Structure your product data clearly
To be correctly interpreted and recommended by GPT-4o, your product information needs to be structured and machine-readable. Use Schema.org markup – especially the elements Product, Offer (for price and availability), and AggregateRating (for reviews).
Make sure your data – such as price, availability, color, size, material, or technical specs – is consistently and completely maintained, both in the markup and on your visible product pages.
GPT-4o doesn’t rely solely on web crawling. It also pulls product data from third-party sources like Google Shopping or Amazon. The cleaner your data is across these platforms, the more likely it is that your products will appear in AI-driven shopping results – across platforms and independent of ad budgets.
Even if your own shop doesn’t yet meet all requirements, maintaining clean and complete listings on platforms like Google Shopping or marketplaces can already make your products eligible for GPT-4o recommendations.
Tools and plugins from the Shopware Store can help you implement structured markup correctly and efficiently.
Conclusion
GPT-4o and similar AI systems are changing the way products are discovered and recommended in ecommerce. When AI tools like GPT-4o deliver product suggestions directly within the chat interface, many users make their decision right there – before even opening a traditional search engine. To be visible in this new environment, merchants need to master a new set of rules. That’s why it’s essential to invest in structured data, high-quality reviews, and a clean site architecture to ensure long-term visibility in AI-powered shopping experiences.
Final tip
The Shopware AI Copilot can also help you better prepare your products for AI systems like GPT-4o. It supports you by automatically assigning relevant tags and generating product descriptions – creating additional context that GPT-4o can use for smarter recommendations. While it’s no replacement for structured markup, it’s a powerful tool to improve clarity and relevance. Learn more about the AI Copilot!
