OpenAI Enters E-commerce Market with Business Information Features for Enterprises

OpenAI is adding business information features for enterprises to ChatGPT, marking its entry into the new e-commerce sector. This feature positions itself as a competitor to Google's business information service "Google Business Profile" and could serve as a significant foothold for OpenAI in the e-commerce domain.

Google Business Profile has long been used by many businesses as a service that allows stores and enterprises to display information such as business hours, addresses, and reviews in search results. It functions as a gateway for companies to be discovered by customers online, and has become essential customer acquisition infrastructure, particularly in retail and food service industries. OpenAI's integration of similar functionality into ChatGPT represents a direct challenge to this established domain.

ChatGPT is already being used by many users for information gathering and purchase decisions, and behavior patterns of searching for products and stores through AI are expanding. If OpenAI provides enterprise information posting and management features within this trend, it could create an environment where users can complete the entire journey from search to purchase consideration on ChatGPT. E-commerce operators are expected to view this as a new customer touchpoint.

OpenAI has previously operated individual and enterprise subscription services centered on ChatGPT. This move can be interpreted as OpenAI attempting to transcend the conventional model and take on the role of a "business infrastructure" through which enterprises can directly connect with end users via the AI platform. This development is noteworthy from the perspective of revenue diversification.

From the perspective of converging AI with search and e-commerce capabilities, both Google and Amazon have respective strengths in these domains, and OpenAI's entry can be positioned as a move that could alter the competitive landscape of the entire market. However, challenges such as maintaining the accuracy of enterprise information and building trust relationships with listed businesses will be questioned in future operations. As ChatGPT expands its role from a conversational AI to a business platform, how it secures trust from enterprises will become the next focal point.