Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–18 of 18 posts

Re: Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google

#11

Post by dismalaf »

theturtletalks wrote: post #10
dismalaf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/ No, this feature has been open for nearly a year. Shopify integrated it and makes it easy for their customers (the stores) to sell on ChatGPT, it doesn't mean no one else can.

You still have to apply and this still makes ChatGPT the gate keeper for which shops and platforms they want to support. As far as I know, the open-source alternatives like Medusa and Woocommerce are not on ChatGPT. Do you read the things you post? https://chatgpt.com/merchants/ And my chat allows the whole checkout process in the chat, not just link to it.

Do you? It shows a ton of brands that aren't Shopify or Shopify stores. And of course they gatekeep. Google also gatekeeps.

The point is the integration is open and has been for awhile. But yeah, OpenAI probably doesn't want to recommend some drop-shipping scammer hence the curation.

Re: Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google

#12

Post by OhSoHumble »

nothercastle wrote: post #5

I wish I could easily search Shopify stores And ignore Google I think I’d find more deals that way

I just started building this a month ago so it's... sparse. But something that I'm trying to create is an indexer and aggregator for "third party" sites like Shopify, Squarespace, etc. Ingestion is instant as I just point my application at a domain and it slurps it up.

I curate based on "small scale production" - think hand made goods but the curation has a bit more wiggle room than that.

Most of the work isn't even technical. I get a lot of sellers from craft fair markets in my area. It's called Plukio. It's bare bones but maybe it'll be something someday.

My TODO list today is actually to contact an illustrator for it to do graphics and logo design.

Re: Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google

#13

Post by theturtletalks »

dismalaf wrote: post #11
theturtletalks wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still have to apply and this still makes ChatGPT the gate keeper for which shops and platforms they want to support. As far as I know, the open-source alternatives like Medusa and Woocommerce are not on ChatGPT. Do you read the things you post? https://chatgpt.com/merchants/ And my chat allows the whole checkout process in the chat, not just link to it.

Do you? It shows a ton of brands that aren't Shopify or Shopify stores. And of course they gatekeep. Google also gatekeeps. The point is the integration is open and has been for awhile. But yeah, OpenAI probably doesn't want to recommend some drop-shipping scammer hence the curation.

Eh I prefer an open marketplace that's based on merit and not big players deciding for me. Also, they don't support vape and other legal products so my open marketplace will win in the long run since we curate a list of vetted sellers, but you can bring your own.

Also, you do realize you have AI that can vet and figure out which sellers are "drop-shipping scammers" right? Why would buyers need to pay marketplaces in the future when AI can do better vetting? These marketplaces are seeing their moats disappear and now are trying to partner up with ChatGPT to make sure they can still rent seek.

Re: Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google

#14

Post by dismalaf »

theturtletalks wrote: post #13
dismalaf wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you? It shows a ton of brands that aren't Shopify or Shopify stores. And of course they gatekeep. Google also gatekeeps. The point is the integration is open and has been for awhile. But yeah, OpenAI probably doesn't want to recommend some drop-shipping scammer hence the curation.

Eh I prefer an open marketplace that's based on merit and not big players deciding for me. Also, they don't support vape and other legal products so my open marketplace will win in the long run since we curate a list of vetted sellers, but you can bring your own. Also, you do realize you have AI that can vet and figure out which sellers are "drop-shipping scammers" right? Why would buyers need to pay marketplaces in…

How is a service like Shopify, where any non-technical person can open a store and sell things not an open marketplace? You don't buy through Shopify anymore than you're buying through WordPress if the seller chooses WordPress for their company website. The web is the open marketplace. Shopify isn't Amazon.

Also, I don't hate the idea of what you're building but keep in mind lots of people selling stuff on services like Shopify have zero technical skills and most people who shop online are also normies who will know nothing about open models and whatnot.

Re: Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google

#15

Post by theturtletalks »

dismalaf wrote: post #14
theturtletalks wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh I prefer an open marketplace that's based on merit and not big players deciding for me. Also, they don't support vape and other legal products so my open marketplace will win in the long run since we curate a list of vetted sellers, but you can bring your own. Also, you do realize you have AI that can vet and figure out which sellers are "drop-shipping scammers" right? Why would buyers need to pay marketplaces in…

How is a service like Shopify, where any non-technical person can open a store and sell things not an open marketplace? You don't buy through Shopify anymore than you're buying through WordPress if the seller chooses WordPress for their company website. The web is the open marketplace. Shopify isn't Amazon. Also, I don't hate the idea of what you're building but keep in mind lots of people selling stuff on services l…

The web is an open marketplace but people still flock to Amazon to search across many sellers and find the best value and quality.

With AI, the web is the marketplace in the sense that an AI agent can scour the web. But most people will use ChatGPT to do so. Instead of ChatGPT searching across all websites, they have a partnership with Shopify to automatically show their products via the agentic commerce protocol you shared.

Even if other platforms implement that protocol, there is no guarantee OpenAI will approve it. Which is fine, they can run the product how they see fit. But as a buyer, why would you want OpenAI to play middleman when you can have the LLM itself vet the stores?

That’s why I’m building with our open, decentralized marketplace. It’ll connect to any store online, turn their checkout process into a MCP-UI, and we will have a list of vetted stores that we’ve made sure are legit, but you can add your own.

And your part about Shopify is right. We’re trying to have a premium experience with our open-source alternative as well. Our goal to not to get every Shopify user to switch, but to give an alternative to stores that want to own the tech stack that runs their business.

Re: Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google

#17

Post by tomveber »

theturtletalks wrote: post #15
dismalaf wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is a service like Shopify, where any non-technical person can open a store and sell things not an open marketplace? You don't buy through Shopify anymore than you're buying through WordPress if the seller chooses WordPress for their company website. The web is the open marketplace. Shopify isn't Amazon. Also, I don't hate the idea of what you're building but keep in mind lots of people selling stuff on services l…

The web is an open marketplace but people still flock to Amazon to search across many sellers and find the best value and quality. With AI, the web is the marketplace in the sense that an AI agent can scour the web. But most people will use ChatGPT to do so. Instead of ChatGPT searching across all websites, they have a partnership with Shopify to automatically show their products via the agentic commerce protocol you…

[dead]
Post reply on HN