Short answer: Jordan Metzner says chat is becoming the new search interface, and if shopping searches move to ChatGPT, Amazon could lose conversion and may have to pay ChatGPT for traffic the way it has paid Google.
Watch this answer from Episode 17 (starts at 17:54) · Episode 17 notes and transcript
From Episode 17: Sora API, AI Automations, and Apple’s M5 Chip, starting at 17:54.
Sam Nadler [17:54]: Alright, Jordan. I wanna transition to the news of the day. Couple topics I wanna cover. The first one I think that is really cool given your background, working for many years at the largest online retailer in the world. Walmart has partnered with OpenAI so shoppers can buy things directly in ChatGPT. I know, ChatGPT signaled this, like, ability to purchase directly in app a couple weeks ago, but Walmart being, the largest, I think, physical retailer in the world, it is, I think, a huge opportunity for them heading into Christmas and the largest, buying season every year. And specifically, Amazon does not seem to be a part of this. I don't know. What are your high level thoughts?
Jordan Metzner [18:49]: Yeah. So, I mean, OpenAI just released its new kind of, like, app integration tools. My guess is Amazon and Expedia and all the top major apps are gonna integrate because it's kind of free traffic. Why not? And, chats become the new search interface. Right? It's it's beating Google in many ways, and people are starting their search on ChatGPT. Find me the best this, or, show me this product. I just had a pump for my pool break, and I just took a picture of it, and, I could've just led all the way you know, and said, like, tell me what this is and I need to buy a new one. And I could've led all the through the commerce directly in ChatGPT. I already have an Amazon account. It can know my preferences, kind of one click checkout. At the end of the day, like, it's not hard to go to Amazon and type in that product and search for it and check it out. Like, obviously, that is not a challenging thing. But as, the AI starts to know me better and know my preferences, then, maybe you can build a better shopping experience.
Jordan Metzner [19:47]: Amazon and Google historically have had, a yin and yang type relationship as, Google has been a massive driver of traffic into Amazon. But Amazon has been, skeptical in sharing too much information with Google as they've built things like Google Shopping and, Google Shopping ads compete with Amazon Shopping ads, etcetera. So, I think this is super interesting because, one, users are starting their search on ChatGPT, and so it feels like everyone's gonna have to integrate if you're gonna wanna get that type of affiliate traffic. Two, I think it kinda has a huge impact on, where users start their search, and I think, Amazon's been working over the past twenty years to get customers to start their, commerce searches directly on Amazon. But if inherently behavior changes and those searches start to move back to or start to move to ChatGPT versus, start to move away from Amazon again, that will be costly for Amazon both in, conversion as well as, whether they have to pay ChatGPT for traffic again like they have paid for Google historically.
Jordan Metzner [20:49]: So this is a really interesting time. It seems like the early days of like kind of web two thousands when like everybody was trying to do deals with everybody and nobody knew, what was happening. I think ChatGPT is gonna compete with all these guys too. They've raised a ton of money. They continue to build their stack. What products are they gonna sell? Are they gonna compete against you know, they're already competing against Google. Right? They're already competing against AWS. Are they gonna compete against Walmart and Amazon and ecommerce? Like, maybe so. Yeah. Lots going on. I think this is just the beginning days, and we'll see, if this has an impact. Are customers really gonna go to ChatGPT to buy on Walmart? Maybe. Maybe not. But, maybe it's a great lead gen and makes the shopping experience just a little bit better. So anyway, early days of, chat, AI, and shopping, and I don't know. We'll see.
Jordan Metzner [21:37]: Amazon's gonna continue to have to innovate if they wanna continue to have customers.
