ChatGPT’s influence on ecommerce sales is minimal—for now – eMarketer
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The insight: ChatGPT is less effective at converting shoppers than nearly all traditional channels except paid social, according to a working paper by researchers from the University of Hamburg and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
That finding is consistent with EMARKETER’s latest report on AI search, which shows that traditional search engines continue to dominate discovery.
What it means: ChatGPT is becoming a meaningful source of referral traffic to retailers’ websites, but its ability to drive sales is limited—for now.
But that could change as users grow to trust ChatGPT’s—and other AI chatbots’—recommendations.
Our recommendation: Retailers should certainly be thinking about how to optimize their websites and listings for discovery on generative AI engines—but those efforts shouldn’t come at the expense of SEO, since the vast majority of shoppers continue to surface products via Google and other traditional channels.
Go further: Check out our latest report, AI Will Dominate Search—Just Not in 2026.
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