ChatGPT advertising is officially here for ecommerce brands, building on OpenAI’s earlier rollout of advertisements and its low-cost subscription tier.
But you cannot buy it directly.
If you want paid placements inside ChatGPT, you have to go through Shopify’s Shop Campaigns. There is no standalone ChatGPT ads dashboard. No separate media buy. No isolated reporting view.
Access to conversational AI ads is bundled inside Shopify’s ecosystem.
That detail matters more than the headline.
What You’re Actually Opting Into
If you are already running Shop Campaigns, activation is simple. You set a fixed customer acquisition cost, and your products can surface inside ChatGPT conversations. When a shopper clicks, they land in Shop to complete the purchase. Same pricing model. New surface.
From a friction standpoint, it is one of the fastest ways to enter AI-driven commerce.
But you are not buying “ChatGPT ads.” You are buying Shop Campaigns, which now includes ChatGPT.
That distinction changes the math.
There is no clean way to see what conversions came specifically from ChatGPT versus other Shop marketing placements. You cannot exclude other paid channels like Meta, Google, Bing, X, or Snap. You do not get granular user journey visibility.
It is an all-or-nothing decision. If you want access to ChatGPT placements, you are opting into the broader Shop paid ecosystem.
Shopify Is Controlling the Commerce Layer
This structure is strategic.
Shopify’s thesis is clear: AI platforms like ChatGPT are influence layers. Shopify owns the transaction layer. Discovery may happen in conversation, but checkout, payments, inventory, and merchant data stay inside Shopify’s system.
Bundling ChatGPT inside Shop Campaigns reinforces that control. It keeps merchants inside the Shopify performance loop while positioning the company at the center of agentic commerce.
The Only Question That Matters: Is It Incremental?
For brands, the only question that matters is incrementality.
Is Shop Campaigns driving net-new demand?
Or capturing customers who would have converted anyway?
Or accelerating purchases through Shop Cash incentives?
Without channel-level transparency, you are evaluating blended performance. That requires discipline. You need to benchmark CAC before activation, monitor returning versus new customer mix, and measure overall paid efficiency before and after turning it on.
AI commerce is not theoretical anymore. It is operational. As outlined in my 2026 eCommerce predictions, AI-driven discovery and new performance surfaces were always going to reshape the paid stack.
But access is being intermediated.
Right now, Shopify controls the door. The brands that win will not just show up in AI conversations. They will understand what that visibility is actually worth.
Want a Second Opinion on Your Ad Strategy?
ChatGPT ads through Shopify may look like a simple toggle, but they affect your entire paid mix. Before you opt in, make sure you understand the incrementality. At Avenue Z, we help brands align Shopify, performance media, and AI discovery into one measurable growth system. If you’re weighing Shop Campaigns, let’s talk.
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