Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
But nobody wants that. They want you to buy their product, not the best product. I rarely see a store where you can filter some characteristic OUT of search results.
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.
What I cannot forgive is the Slopify code base and Ruby core sloppification dictated by Lütke.
That’s why I’m building an open-source agent commerce chat where you can connect to any seller. It supports Openfront, our Shopify alternative, but it’s built in a way where any platform can be added as an adapter.
I truly believe AI will replace these marketplaces and even Google Shopping and we need that way to be open, decentralized, and interoperable.
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.
https://chatgpt.com/merchants/
And my chat allows the whole checkout process in the chat, not just link to it.
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.
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.
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.
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.