OpenAI is stepping more decisively into e-commerce advertising by enabling retailers to build ads directly from their product catalogues within ChatGPT. What’s new. Retailers can now plug product feeds into ChatGPT so the system can automatically generate ads using product titles, images and attributes, instead of requiring manual campaign setup. The user experience doesn’t change: ads still appear below responses and remain clearly marked as sponsored. Why it matters. Scaling ad campaigns has been a key challenge for e-commerce brands in ChatGPT. This update eases that pain point, particularly for retailers with extensive product ranges, by transforming catalogues into near-instant ad campaigns. Zoom in. Brands define rules for which items are eligible, then allow the system to auto-generate ads. It closely resembles shopping campaigns on platforms like Google, where structured product feeds drive both organic listings and paid placements. What’s different. In the past, product data could shape ChatGPT’s responses but wasn’t available for ad creation. Now, the same feed powers both answers and ads, tying together organic visibility and paid promotion. Between the lines. This reflects a broader shift in OpenAI’s shopping monetisation strategy. Instead of taking a share of sales, it’s aiming to tap into existing ad budgets that currently flow to platforms like Amazon and Meta. What they’re saying. Industry analyst Debra Aho Williamson described feed-based automation as “table stakes,” emphasizing that ChatGPT’s real advantage is targeting ads based on conversational intent rather than legacy ad signals. Ad tech partners such as StackAdapt say the integration works smoothly with current feeds, reducing friction for adoption. Context. The…