OpenAI Ads for Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce shops

Published 14 September 2026 · Updated 17 September 2026 · Based on the OpenAI Ads API documentation

A shop that wants its products in ChatGPT answers needs four things in place before the first campaign: an ad account, a product feed, a pixel and server-side conversions. This guide explains each one, how Adsonomy sets them up for Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce, and which stock and margin signals then drive the campaigns.

What does a shop need to advertise in ChatGPT?

Four things. An OpenAI Ads account at ads.openai.com with an API key. A product feed in the Agentic Commerce product file format, delivered over SFTP or fetched from a hosted URL. The OpenAI pixel on the storefront. And server-side conversions through the Conversions API, deduplicated against the pixel so no order is counted twice. Feeds, pixels and Conversions API keys are capabilities that OpenAI switches on for an account; they are not on by default.

The ad account is yours. Adsonomy connects to it with an API key you issue in the Ads Manager settings. Read how ads in ChatGPT work for the account structure and the formats.

How does the product feed work?

The feed is your catalogue in the Agentic Commerce product file schema that OpenAI publishes for commerce. A feed is registered through the API, the file is uploaded over SFTP with a password or an SSH key, and later changes can be sent as deltas rather than full re-uploads. Product ads then read the item's image, URL and price directly from the feed. A product missing from a processed upload is kept for up to 14 days and then expires; to stop it serving sooner, mark it out of stock. Titles, including the variant, should stay within 150 characters.

A feed-based ad group points at a product set, a subset of the feed, and carries one active product ad template. The template can print the current price, so a price change in the shop shows in the ad without touching the creative. Accounts with the capability enabled can also report which products received zero impressions, which is the quickest way to find items whose hints or data never match a conversation.

The API does not document an endpoint to list existing feeds, so whoever manages the account keeps its own record of feed IDs and uploads. Adsonomy keeps that registry per shop, with the last successful upload and any rows the schema rejected. Besides SFTP, the Ads Manager can fetch a feed from a hosted URL; Adsonomy can publish the file at a private HTTPS address protected by HTTP Basic authentication and rewrite it daily and after every delta.

How does conversion tracking work for a shop?

Two layers report the same events. The pixel runs in the browser and captures page views, product views, add to cart, checkout started and orders. The Conversions API sends the same events from your server, which is more reliable because it survives ad blockers and abandoned tabs. Both can fire for one order; the platform deduplicates them by event ID, and the pixel's browser reference is passed along with the server event to tie the two together.

Personal data in a server event, such as the customer email, is normalised and hashed with SHA-256 before it is sent, as lowercase hexadecimal. Events must carry a timestamp within the last 7 days, and one Conversions API request carries up to 1,000 events. Of the fourteen standard events on the platform, the five that matter for a shop are page_viewed, contents_viewed, items_added, checkout_started and order_created. Only standard events can be set as an optimisation goal, and only order_created feeds the attributed sales and ROAS metrics in reporting.

In the Ads API the click window is set on each conversion event (attribution_window_days, no default stated), and insights requests take no window parameter. Since 16 September 2026 Ads Manager conversion columns can show a 7, 14 or 30-day click window and a 0 or 1-day view window; figures read through the API use the click window set on the conversion event. Conversions take at least a day to appear in reporting, so daily decisions have to be made on yesterday's orders, not this morning's.

The pixel loads from OpenAI's script domain and needs a pixel ID. If your storefront enforces a content security policy, that domain has to be allowed. Adsonomy shows the policy line to add, generates the tag for your platform and checks the installation.

Should a Shopify store use OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads app?

It is a quick way to start. On 16 September 2026 OpenAI announced a ChatGPT Ads app in the Shopify App Store that lets merchants connect their product catalogue and measurement tools, create campaigns and track performance from Shopify. It is available to US merchants first, with international availability planned for later that month.

Adsonomy is built for the work that follows the launch: a daily brief and proposals from Nomy, rules with a dry run and a backtest, labels that scope those rules, guardrails such as a daily spend cap on every change, and a shadow mode to rehearse before anything goes live. It also connects WooCommerce, BigCommerce and any product feed URL, not only Shopify. Our September 2026 news post shows where each option fits.

How does Adsonomy connect Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce?

With a read-only key you create in the shop. Adsonomy reads the catalogue, stock levels and prices, builds and delivers the feed, generates the pixel and purchase-event code for your platform, and relays orders to the Conversions API as order_created events with hashed customer identifiers and the order id as the event ID, so the same order from the pixel and the server counts once.

Shopify

Create a custom app in the Shopify admin and paste its Admin API access token into Adsonomy. The pixel goes into theme.liquid, and a Custom Pixel under Customer events fires order_created at checkout with the order id, the same id the Adsonomy order relay sends from the server.

WooCommerce

Create a read-only key under WooCommerce, Settings, Advanced, REST API. Adsonomy generates a snippet for your child theme's functions.php that prints the pixel on every page and fires order_created on the thank-you page with the WooCommerce order id, the same id its order relay uses. Stock management has to be enabled in WooCommerce for stock-based rules to have data.

BigCommerce

Create a store-level API account with read-only access. The pixel and an order confirmation script go into Script Manager, and the order relay adds line items server-side.

Any other shop can connect a product feed URL in Google Shopping or Channable format. Shopware, Magento and PrestaShop connectors are planned. If you sell on another platform, tell us which one and it moves up the queue.

What stock and margin signals change?

Stock and margin should decide what gets promoted. In Adsonomy they are rule signals: two rule templates pause ads when a product runs out and reactivate them when stock returns, so budget is not spent on a page that cannot sell.

The OpenAI platform knows your revenue from order events but nothing about your costs. Adsonomy's rules can read stock-out share, the lowest stock quantity, price changes and margin, and you give Nomy your gross margin as part of its strategy. Price and stock changes flow into the feed every 30 minutes, so a promotion shows the promotional price in the ad. The guardrails guide explains how those changes are limited and logged.

What should EU shops know about custom audiences?

Custom audiences, uploaded lists of customer emails or phone numbers, are not available for campaigns targeting the EEA or Switzerland. This does not hold back a shop: on this platform the targeting is done by context hints and the product feed, not by audiences. Adsonomy was designed without them.

For campaigns outside the EEA the platform accepts audience files in CSV or TXT up to 500 MB, with plain or hashed emails and phone numbers, and forbids data bought from brokers. Inclusion targeting needs a matched-user minimum, with a public planning threshold of 25,000 matched users; exclusion works with any ready audience. Adsonomy applies the same rule everywhere: personal data is hashed before it leaves your systems and conversion events carry only what the platform needs.

Frequently asked questions