OpenAI lets businesses publish branded agents in ChatGPT, the EU proposes the Digital Fairness Act, and more - Retail & Ecommerce AI Weekly #6

In this edition, covering 5 to 11 November:

• OpenAI now lets US ecommerce and online services businesses publish free, branded chat agents in ChatGPT that send customers to their websites to buy.
• The European Commission formally proposed the Digital Fairness Act, which sets consumer rights for AI assisted purchases and allows fines of up to 6% of worldwide annual turnover.
• Visa tested 22 AI models on 15 shopping scenarios, and the models passed 57.2% of runs.

From our lists

An AI Brief list covers AI product photo tools for online stores.

AI product photo tools for online stores

Brands in ChatGPT and AI answers

OpenAI lets US ecommerce and online services businesses create verified profiles in its Business Hub and publish free, branded chat agents in ChatGPT. The agents use information the company supplies, guide customers through product choices and send them to the business website to complete the purchase. OpenAI also offers sponsored versions and gives businesses aggregate conversation themes, mentions, views and website clicks, and does not share individual chats or prompts. OpenAI

VistaPrint reported a 5.9x return on ad spend from a US ChatGPT Ads campaign focused on conversions. Cost per attributed order fell by about 90% compared with an earlier campaign focused on clicks, and most attributed US conversions came from new customers. VistaPrint has extended the approach to other US campaigns and to the UK, Canada and Australia. VistaPrint

Coty is piloting Brandlight's technology to improve how its top six brands appear in AI assistants and generative search in five markets. A comdaily study of 504 German language answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews found Arc'teryx leading ski jacket recommendations and Patagonia leading rain jackets, with Bergfreunde the leading purchase destination in all three segments studied. Coty · comdaily

Similarweb data cited by Boats Group shows Boat Trader and YachtWorld received more than 17 times the estimated monthly AI referred traffic of the next closest US marine marketplace from July to September 2026; Boats Group says it is expanding integrations with ChatGPT and Meta AI. Boats Group

Reddit is testing Reddit Reviews, which organizes product discussions into summaries of community sentiment, common themes, comparisons, prices and purchase links. It rolls out to US users on iOS, Android and web over the next few weeks, first for about 10,000 products in electronics, health and beauty, home and garden, and fashion. Toronto based VerticalScope says AI shopping recommendations on its forums helped raise affiliate commerce revenue 29% year over year in the third quarter, while total revenue fell 11%; it also signed agreements with two unnamed AI labs to license forum data. Reddit Reviews · VerticalScope

Shopping agents

Visa launched its Agentic Commerce Benchmark after testing 22 AI models from 12 labs across 15 shopping scenarios. The models passed 57.2% of runs overall, and 54% of the failed runs still ended with a purchase. Visa plans to extend the benchmark to checkout, payments and order placement. Visa

Firmly, which lets retailers sell through AI assistants and marketplaces without new integrations, raised a $15 million Series A led by Squarepoint Capital, with J.P. Morgan Payments, Mastercard and Samsung NEXT, and launched Ask Agent. Firmly

Fiserv added AI ecommerce tools for Clover merchants, including website creation, AI shopping discovery, shipping, tax calculation and synced product, inventory, order and payment data. Vancouver based GreenCore Solutions renamed itself WeFetch.ai; its gtinfetch.ai product supplies barcode and product data to AI agents and covers 84 million products in 70 countries, the company says. Fiserv Clover · WeFetch.ai

J. Crew launched Style Advisor on its desktop website, an AI shopping tool trained on its styling data and powered by Anthropic models that asks about shoppers' needs and recommends outfits; a mobile app version is planned. United Airlines is changing its ticketing rules to prohibit unauthorized third party AI agents from making, changing or servicing tickets, including through travel agencies and booking platforms, citing passenger data, unintended purchases and US aviation rules. Southwest allows ChatGPT users to access its flight inventory, while Delta and American Airlines are still evaluating AI booking tools. J. Crew · United Airlines

Amazon and Singles Day

Amazon is giving select US customers a text based Alexa shopping feature for searching products, comparing prices, adding items to carts, placing orders and tracking deliveries. Access widens in the coming weeks, and other users can join a waitlist. Amazon

Alibaba, JD.com and Douyin used chatbots, virtual try ons and other AI tools during China's month long Singles Day festival. JD.com's Dongdong assistant drew nearly 80 million users, and chatbot links drove about 5% of Douyin purchases in October. Singles Day

EU Digital Fairness Act

The European Commission formally proposed the Digital Fairness Act on 11 November. It bans dark patterns, sets clearer pricing rules, restricts unfair personalised ads, makes subscriptions easier to cancel and sets consumer rights for AI assisted purchases, with fines of up to 6% of worldwide annual turnover. An earlier leaked draft would require AI shopping agents to ask consumers for fresh approval when the provider is paid for recommendations or has merchant conflicts. Proposal · Leaked draft

Orders, fulfilment and returns

Blue Yonder launched a cloud based order management product for retailers and distributors that connects inventory, fulfilment, customer service and returns, with AI agents that flag at risk orders and recommend actions within rules the customer sets. ShipBob made its AI agent Bobby available to every brand on its fulfilment platform; it answers questions, flags stockout risks and stuck orders, and acts after a user approves. Blue Yonder · ShipBob

Claimlane raised €5.6 million in a Series A backed by Verb Ventures, Skagerak Capital and Vendep Capital for AI agents that handle warranty claims, repairs, replacements and supplier claims, and for its US expansion. Claimlane

Stores and consumer goods brands

In a Scandit survey of 2,200 store associates in seven countries, stock records matched shelf conditions 46% of the time, and only 8% of associates fully trusted the data. SAP and VF Corporation opened S.Fashion at SAP headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, a store that uses AI, RFID, robotics and SAP applications to link shopping with inventory, orders, pricing, fulfilment and replenishment, with virtual try on and autonomous operating periods. Scandit · SAP and VF

GOcxm launched Signal IQ, which connects brand, shopper, trade and sales data with retail execution and recommends actions by retailer, region and store. Revology Analytics launched ATLAS and ATLAS Plan for consumer goods companies to analyse profitability, test pricing and promotion scenarios and build account plans. Hyperstar launched an AI agent that picks influencers by sales, using order data from eight channels including Amazon, Shopify, TikTok Shop and Coupang. GOcxm · Revology · Hyperstar

Also

Garage raised $41 million in a Series B led by Invus Opportunities for its AI marketplace for used heavy equipment, which the company says has passed $100 million in annual platform sales. CassTime introduced its T+D Solution for automotive parts matching, repair support and insurance claims assessment, already in use in Saudi Arabia. Garage · CassTime

STARII TECHNOLOGY added a node based workspace and Koozee MCP, which lets AI agents request batch apparel images, to its Koozee platform. CloudScope's CoverCount connectors for restaurant discovery and reservations were approved for the ChatGPT and Claude directories. Koozee · CoverCount