ChatGPT traffic underperforms Google in e-commerce study

PPC Land reports on research by Maximilian Kaiser and Christian Schulze analyzing ChatGPT’s e-commerce performance across 973 websites with $20 billion in combined revenue. The study found ChatGPT referrals represented only 0.2% of total sessions with lower conversion rates than most traditional digital channels, though bounce rates were favorable. Affiliate marketing showed 86% higher conversion likelihood compared to ChatGPT, and projections suggest ChatGPT will not achieve parity with organic search within one year. The research challenges narratives about AI immediately threatening Google’s search dominance, highlighting that platform architecture and commercial optimization remain in early stages.