Big shifts in SaaS and eCommerce rarely arrive quietly. This one is coming with the subtlety of a wrecking ball.

Rumor has it that OpenAI and Shopify are teaming up. Soon, you’ll be able to buy products directly inside ChatGPT.

No banner ads. No clicks. No bouncing from Google to a blog post to a Shopify checkout.

You chat, you decide, you buy—without ever leaving the conversation.

Instead of selling ad space, OpenAI takes a commission on the sale.

The First Time I Felt It Coming

I just bought a Polaroid camera for my kids.

I asked ChatGPT which model to get. It compared options, gave pros and cons, and even told me where it was cheapest.

By the time we were done, I knew exactly what to buy.

And then… nothing.

No link. No “Buy Now.” I had to copy-paste the product name into Google like it was 2012.

That step is about to vanish. Soon, ChatGPT will handle the research and the checkout in one flow.

From a user perspective, it’s pure magic.

From a brand perspective, it’s a tectonic shift.

Why This Should Terrify Affiliate Marketers

Affiliate marketing has always relied on friction:

• People start on Google.
• They click into a review or listicle.
• That site earns a commission when a user buys through an affiliate link.

ChatGPT cuts the chain in half.

There’s no “10 Best Polaroid Cameras for 2025” blog.

No clicks to Amazon or a Shopify landing page.

No commission for the publisher who used to do the research work.

OpenAI and Shopify take the cut. Everyone else is out.

The Promise and the Problem for Brands

If you’re a SaaS or eCommerce brand, this sounds tempting at first:

• You only pay for performance. Commissions beat paying for endless ad impressions.
• Friction disappears. Users don’t drop off between research and checkout.

But here’s where it gets messy:

1. How do you get recommended?
2. Will there be a formal listing process? Or will it be a black box where OpenAI decides who shows up?
3. Will Shopify stores get priority?
4. If this is a Shopify integration first, non-Shopify merchants may struggle to appear at all.
5. Can you trust the pipeline?
6. AI-generated sales are great, but what happens when recommendations shift or vanish without explanation?
7. Will OpenAI resist ads forever?
8. Sam Altman says he prefers commission models. But he’s also the guy who flipped OpenAI from non‑profit to for‑profit.
9. Ads will come. They always do.

The Missed Opportunity for Google

Here’s the part that stings for traditional players: Google could have owned this.

For years, product research happened in two steps:

1. Google Search: You typed “best Polaroid cameras.”
2. Affiliate Content: You clicked a blog or YouTube video that did the work for you.

Google made ad revenue, but the affiliate made the commission.

The problem? Google was too far upstream.

Search showed you options, but it didn’t close the sale.

Large language models (LLMs) change that.

ChatGPT decides and converts in the same window. No clicks. No detours.

What This Means for Partnerships in SaaS

Affiliate programs, influencer campaigns, and even some partner marketing motions are about to face a total redesign.

If LLMs start owning the discovery-to-purchase pipeline, your “partner stack” might shift from:

• Dozens of small affiliates and blogs,
• To a handful of platform partners like OpenAI and Shopify.

Your priority won’t just be recruiting affiliates.

It’ll be getting into the AI’s knowledge base and building trackable partner integrations with the platforms that now control the customer journey.

For SaaS products, this means:

• Embedding into recommendation engines (like ChatGPT plugins or Shopify App Store).
• Optimizing first-party data to feed AI trustworthy, structured product info.
• Negotiating commission terms with the platforms that will effectively replace your top 50 affiliates.

Partnerships become more about platform positioning than cold outreach.

A Final Thought

Affiliate marketing as we know it is on borrowed time.

The step where users leave a platform to read a blog post, click a link, and eventually buy?

Gone.

LLMs are collapsing the funnel. They handle decision and transaction in one conversation.

Brands that rely on the old affiliate chain need to pivot.

• Prioritize platform partnerships over long-tail affiliates.
• Prepare for commission-based AI commerce to dominate.
• Accept that ads will follow—because if history has taught us anything, frictionless sales attract sponsored dollars.

The future of partner-led growth won’t be about blogs or banners.

It’ll be about getting your product recommended by the AI that closes the deal.

If you want, I can now write a companion piece on how SaaS brands can adapt their affiliate and partner strategies specifically for the coming ChatGPT-commerce era.

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