Guide for UK retailers
How to get your products into ChatGPT and other AI assistants
Shoppers now ask ChatGPT, Google's AI Mode, Copilot and Perplexity what to buy. This guide explains how products get into those answers, which programmes are open to UK shops today and what you can do this month.
Last updated 29 October 2026. These programmes change often, so the sources at the end link to each company's own pages.
On this page
Assistants use three kinds of product information. They read public product pages, much as a search engine does. They use product data that a shop or its platform sends them: a product feed, Google Merchant Center or a platform integration such as Shopify's. Some also let the shopper pay inside the assistant.
The first two decide whether your products can appear at all. Paying inside the assistant is still mostly limited to shoppers in the US.
The position on 29 October 2026, from each company's own pages:
| Assistant | Product data | UK shops | Paying in the assistant |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Pages read by OAI-SearchBot, product feeds from approved merchants, Shopify | Your pages, yes. The standard feed upload currently targets the US | Instant Checkout moved to apps in March 2026; most purchases finish on the shop's own site |
| Google AI Mode and AI Overviews | The Shopping Graph, which includes Merchant Center data, and your pages | Yes. AI Mode launched in the UK in July 2025 | Agentic checkout in the US, Canada and Australia; Google says the UK comes later |
| Microsoft Copilot | Web pages and Microsoft Merchant Center feeds | Microsoft Merchant Center works in the UK | Copilot Checkout is for merchants selling to US buyers |
| Perplexity | A free merchant programme aimed at large retailers | Shopping features are published for US users | Instant Buy is for US users |
| Claude | Pages read by Claude-SearchBot | No merchant programme or product feed | Not for UK shoppers |
ChatGPT finds products in two ways. OAI-SearchBot reads public web pages for ChatGPT search, and OpenAI says sites that block it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Approved merchants can also send a product feed.
The feed is a file pushed to OpenAI by SFTP, at least daily, with nine required fields: an ID, title, description, page URL, brand, seller name, image URL, availability and price. OpenAI's specification says the standard upload currently targets the US and that other markets come only after OpenAI confirms them. Merchants apply through OpenAI's merchants page.
Shopify includes stores by default only if they sell to customers in the United States. Etsy says only shoppers in the United States can buy Etsy items through ChatGPT.
In March 2026 OpenAI said Instant Checkout was moving to apps. For most shops the purchase now finishes on their own website, so the product page and the checkout carry the sale.
What to do
- Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt.
- Make every product page complete: price, delivery, stock and returns.
- If you sell to the US, apply for OpenAI's merchant programme.
Google says there are no extra requirements and no special structured data for AI Overviews or AI Mode. AI Mode draws on the Shopping Graph, which includes the product information shops share through Google Merchant Center.
AI Mode has been available in the UK since July 2025. Google's agentic checkout, where the assistant completes the purchase, works in the US, Canada and Australia, and Google has said the UK will follow.
What to do
- Set up Google Merchant Center with free listings and UK delivery settings, which Google requires for the UK.
- Add Product structured data to your product pages. Google says a feed together with structured data gives the widest eligibility.
- Keep Merchant Center, and your Business Profile if you have one, up to date.
Microsoft says Copilot's shopping results use information from the web and from merchants' feeds in Microsoft Merchant Center, which is available in the UK. Copilot Checkout is open only to merchants selling to US buyers.
Perplexity runs a free merchant programme aimed at large retailers. Its shopping and Instant Buy features are published for users in the US.
What to do
- Set up Microsoft Merchant Center with your product feed.
- Add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools to see how Bing crawls it.
Anthropic has no merchant programme or product feed for Claude. Claude-SearchBot reads pages for Claude's search, and Anthropic says blocking it can reduce your visibility in Claude's answers.
When a business wants Claude or ChatGPT to answer from live data, such as stock or delivery dates, the route is a connector: an MCP server or an app that the assistant can call.
- Check robots.txt. Allow OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and Bingbot as well as Googlebot. GPTBot and ClaudeBot collect training data, and OpenAI and Anthropic list them separately from their search crawlers.
- Add Product structured data to every product page: name, image and an offer with price and currency, plus availability, shipping details and a return policy.
- Publish your shipping and returns policies, and mark them up once for the whole shop.
- Open Google Merchant Center with free listings and UK delivery settings.
- Open Microsoft Merchant Center and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Write each product page for a buyer who can't hold the product: full price with VAT, delivery cost and time, stock, size, materials and who makes it.
- Once a month, ask ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Copilot and Perplexity the questions your customers ask, and note what they show.
- If you sell to US customers on Shopify, check the Agentic sales channel in your Shopify admin. It is on by default for eligible stores.
Each assistant decides which products to show and changes how it decides. Complete data and open pages make your products eligible. They don't guarantee a place, so be wary of anyone who promises you a ranking in ChatGPT.
We check and fix product data, feeds and crawler rules for UK shops, test what assistants show each month, and build MCP servers and apps when an assistant needs live data.
- OpenAI: commerce, get started
- OpenAI: product feed specification
- OpenAI: crawlers and user agents
- TechInformed: OpenAI refocuses ChatGPT shopping on discovery (March 2026)
- Digital Commerce 360: OpenAI shifts checkout plans (6 March 2026)
- Shopify Help: ChatGPT agentic storefront
- Etsy Help: buying Etsy items through AI assistants
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
- Google Search Central: merchant listing structured data
- Google: AI Mode comes to the UK (July 2025)
- Google Merchant Center Help: agentic checkout eligibility
- Google Merchant Center Help: free listings
- Microsoft Advertising: agentic commerce
- Microsoft Advertising: product ads and Merchant Center markets
- Perplexity Help: Instant Buy
- Anthropic: Claude's crawlers