When OpenAI quietly added native shopping to ChatGPT – alongside a partnership with Walmart – it marked more than another AI feature rollout. It signaled a fundamental shift in how consumers discover, compare, and purchase products online.
For the first time, shoppers can browse and buy directly inside an AI conversation – no search results, no scrolling, and no marketplace middleman.
To understand what this means for the future of search, marketplaces, and digital marketing, I spoke with Tim Vanderhook, CEO of Viant Technology, who recently shared his perspective on LinkedIn. Vanderhook believes this move could redefine the entire digital commerce ecosystem, breaking down the “gatekeeper dynamic” that platforms like Amazon and Google have long relied on.
In this direct conversation, he explains why LLM-powered shopping could reshape the funnel, rewrite the rules of attribution, and open the door to a new kind of AI-native marketplace.
The Beginning Of A New Marketplace
Greg Jarboe: You called this “the beginning of an exciting new kind of marketplace.” How do you see LLM-powered commerce evolving over the next few years, and what will make it fundamentally different from search- or marketplace-driven models like Google or Amazon?
Tim Vanderhook: We see LLM-powered commerce as a foundational shift, not just in how people discover, but in how they interact with products, services, and brands. Traditionally, platforms like Google, Amazon, or Walmart served as digital commerce gatekeepers, where visibility is controlled by rankings, algorithms, or marketplace dynamics. In an LLM-powered future, the interface becomes conversational, personalized, and far more dynamic.
This model re-centers discovery around intent, not just keywords. Rather than a one-size-fits-all search result, consumers will have AI-driven shopping assistants that understand context, including where, when, why, and for whom they’re buying. This collapses the “search → click → checkout” funnel into a single, intelligent conversation.
For marketers, that means success will be driven by the quality of engagement and product fit, not just ad spend or ranking. In many ways, it’s the inverse of the search economy: Instead of bidding for space, brands will need to earn their way into relevance via storytelling, brand-building, and trust.
Breaking Down The Gatekeepers
Greg Jarboe: You wrote that OpenAI’s move could “break down the gatekeeper dynamic” that Amazon, Walmart, and others rely on. Is this the start of a real power shift in digital commerce? Or will the incumbents adapt fast enough through partnerships and integrations to maintain their dominance?
Tim Vanderhook: Absolutely, and it’s already underway. Legacy players like Amazon have long benefited from their control of both inventory and discovery. That changes when the discovery interface shifts from their search bars to independent, intelligent LLMs like ChatGPT.
That said, don’t count them out. These incumbents have built massive infrastructure and trust. Many will adapt – and fast – by integrating with LLMs or embedding their services into new ecosystems. But the power dynamic will shift: from owning the funnel to participating in a more open, orchestrated marketplace.
In that new environment, the advantage goes to whoever can deliver the best outcome, not just whoever owns the shelf.
The New Role Of Brands And Marketers
Greg Jarboe: If the LLM becomes the new interface for discovery and transactions, what does that mean for brands and marketers? How should they rethink SEO, paid media, and retail media strategies when product visibility depends on conversational AI rather than rankings or ad placements?
Tim Vanderhook: It’s a seismic change. When product discovery becomes conversational and personalized – not driven by static rankings or paid placements – traditional media strategies need a new playbook. Brands must optimize not just for keywords, but for context. That will elevate the importance of full funnel advertising, tailoring paid media strategies around intent and ensuring retail media campaigns can be activated, optimized, and measured in real time.
And in an LLM-driven world, one of the only ways to guarantee visibility is to be the brand consumers ask for by name. Most marketers still spend nearly 70% of their paid ad budgets on channels like search and social that harvest existing intent or “Demand Capture” and only 30% ad spend on long-term brand-building channels like Connected TV and streaming audio that drive real “Demand Generation” and new business growth. That ratio made sense in a keyword-driven world. But in an AI-driven one, marketers have the power to shape the very conversations that define their brands.
The brands people already know and trust are the ones most likely to appear in an LLM’s response. The companies that win in the LLM era will flip that script, and invest MORE in brand, in CTV, in storytelling, the work that generates demand before the consumer ever types (or prompts) a query. In this new landscape, brand storytelling becomes a visibility strategy.
Partnerships Now, Disintermediation Later
Greg Jarboe: You mentioned that in the short term, marketplaces will partner with OpenAI, but in the long term, OpenAI won’t need them. What incentives or business models could sustain those partnerships – and what happens when smaller retailers can plug in directly to ChatGPT?
Tim Vanderhook: In the short term, it’s symbiotic. Marketplaces provide supply, fulfillment, and customer trust – things LLMs need to deliver on the last mile. OpenAI provides access to intent at scale. Both sides benefit.
But long-term, LLMs could grow to be able to connect directly with retailers, cutting out the middle layers. That creates new business models. Think “preferred placement” fees in conversations, affiliate commissions, or verified product data partnerships.
Smaller retailers especially stand to benefit. They’ve historically lacked the ability to compete on page one of Amazon or Google. In a conversational model, they can plug into the system via APIs and win on merit, product value, or relevance – not just ad spend.
The Future Of Attribution And Advertising
Greg Jarboe: How does AI-native commerce change the way marketers should approach attribution, targeting, and customer acquisition when the “search” and “purchase” phases collapse into one step?
Tim Vanderhook: In an AI-native model, the traditional funnel collapses. Search and purchase happen in the same moment, so attribution must evolve. Brands need systems that can measure the full path from prompt to purchase, across channels and devices.
In this new world, marketers must stop chasing last-click metrics and start optimizing for true incrementality. What drove the purchase intent in the first place? How can we replicate that upstream influence? That’s the future, and we’re building for it now.
Trust, Transparency, And Brand Safety
Greg Jarboe: If ChatGPT becomes a transactional interface, how will issues like brand safety, product authenticity, and trust be handled? Will consumers rely on AI-driven recommendations the same way they currently rely on ratings and reviews?
Tim Vanderhook: They will, if and only if, the system earns that trust. That’s why brand safety, transparency, and authenticated data will be non-negotiable.
LLMs will need accountability controls: where the product came from, how it was vetted, and whether it’s real. They’ll need to show their reasoning, not just “what,” but “why.” Consumers are already skeptical of black-box recommendations. AI must be explainable and accountable.
For brands, this means owning your presence in the AI ecosystem. Provide structured data. Ensure your offers and inventory are verifiable. And align with partners who take identity, measurement, and integrity seriously.
As AI reshapes the interface of commerce, I believe those values will only become more essential.
What Marketers Should Do Next
As Vanderhook points out, the rise of LLM-driven shopping doesn’t just introduce another channel – it redefines how intent, discovery, and conversion intersect. For marketers, that means preparing for a world where visibility depends less on search rankings or ad placements and more on how effectively your data, product information, and brand trust are integrated into AI ecosystems.
The winners in this new landscape won’t be those who chase algorithms, but those who make their brands intelligible – and indispensable – to intelligent systems.
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