With Black Friday fast approaching, OpenAI is enhancing ChatGPT’s capabilities to make shopping easier and more efficient. Starting today, the company is rolling out Shopping Research, a new feature designed to simplify product comparisons and help users make informed purchasing decisions.
What Is Shopping Research?
The tool is available to all ChatGPT users, including those on free plans, with nearly unlimited usage throughout the holiday season. To access it, simply log into your OpenAI account and select “Shopping research” from the + menu. ChatGPT will also automatically route relevant prompts to this specialized model. For example, if you ask, “Find the quietest cordless stick vacuum for a small apartment,” ChatGPT will know to use its shopping-focused capabilities.
What Can It Do?
Beyond comparing products, the feature can:
- Find deals and discounts
- Suggest gift ideas
- Locate lookalike products
For instance, you can upload a photo of a dress and ask ChatGPT to find a similar option under $250. The assistant will ask clarifying questions to refine recommendations. For ChatGPT Pulse users, the experience is even more personalized, with proactive buying guides based on past conversations.
Powered by GPT-5 Mini
The shopping assistant runs on a variant of GPT-5 mini, optimized for commerce-related tasks.
According to OpenAI:
We trained it to read trusted sites, cite reliable sources, and synthesize information across many sources to produce high-quality product research.
This means the tool should provide more accurate product details compared to general-purpose models like GPT-5 Thinking.
Important Caveats
OpenAI cautions that the feature may occasionally make mistakes regarding price or availability, so users should verify details on merchant websites. The tool performs best in categories such as electronics, beauty, and home appliances, where detailed specifications allow for comprehensive comparisons.
OpenAI’s move comes as part of a broader trend toward AI-powered shopping. The company already enables purchases from Etsy via ChatGPT, and competitors like Google have been aggressively adding similar features. Combined with this rollout, ChatGPT is positioning itself as a powerful shopping assistant just in time for the holiday season.
