When customers ask ChatGPT where to buy, does it send them to Shopee or to your own store?
EasyFound · · 7 min read
Mostly to Shopee, in our Malaysian test. When shoppers asked ChatGPT where to buy local products online, about half the links it gave went to Shopee. Brands' own websites got linked mainly for kuih, coffee and baju kurung. Keep your Shopee store, and make your own site the clearest page saying you make the product and deliver it.
Mostly to Shopee, in our Malaysian test. When shoppers asked ChatGPT where to buy local products online, about half the links in its answers went to Shopee pages. Brands' own websites were linked in a third of the answers, mostly for kuih, coffee and baju kurung.
If you're moving from Shopee to your own online store, that matters. A customer who asks ChatGPT where to buy your kind of product may still land on a marketplace page, even after your new site is live.
Where does ChatGPT send shoppers who ask where to buy a local product?
ChatGPT sent shoppers to Shopee more than anywhere else in our test. We asked it 13 shopper questions in English, Malay and Chinese, such as "Where can I buy handmade kuih online in Malaysia with delivery?", and counted every link in its 15 answers.
| Where the link went | Links (of 61) | Answers with one (of 15) |
|---|---|---|
| Shopee | 30 | 9 |
| A brand's own website | 11 | 5 |
| Big retailers | 10 | 5 |
| Other: free Google Sites pages, a magazine, an app store page, an annual report | 8 | 3 |
| Small online marketplaces | 2 | 1 |
| Lazada or TikTok Shop | 0 | 0 |
Six answers linked Shopee and nothing else. Most of the Shopee links were shop pages rather than single product listings.
Lazada got no links, though Lazada pages were in ChatGPT's search results for three answers and it named Lazada in the text of four. TikTok Shop didn't come up at all.
Which questions got ChatGPT to link a brand's own store instead of Shopee?
Brands' own websites got linked mostly for food people order from the maker. Both kuih questions linked brands' own sites, and so did two of the four coffee answers. Packaged goods such as sambal, halal snacks and perfume went to Shopee pages only, one answer each.
The two kuih questions supplied 7 of the 11 own-site links. In coffee, both answers that linked a brand's own site included a large café chain's online shop, so that row says less about small roasters.
| Product asked about | Linked a brand's own site | Linked Shopee |
|---|---|---|
| Kuih, handmade or for Raya | 2 of 2 | 2 of 2 |
| Coffee | 2 of 4 | 2 of 4 |
| Baju kurung and muslimah wear | 1 of 2 | 0 of 2 |
| Skincare | 0 of 4 | 2 of 4 |
| Sambal, halal snacks, perfume | 0 of 3 | 3 of 3 |
Skincare answers leaned on big retailers' sites instead: three of the four linked one.
Our reading: in the kuih and coffee answers, ChatGPT found a place to buy straight from the maker, mostly the maker's homepage or a product collection page. In the sambal, snack and perfume answers, nothing pointed past Shopee.
The same question can also go either way. Asked twice for the best Malaysian coffee brand to order online, ChatGPT linked only Shopee the first time, and a brand's own site plus a retailer the second.
Why does ChatGPT link Shopee so often?
Our reading: ChatGPT links Shopee so often because its own web searches keep turning up Shopee pages. In 5 of the 15 answers, ChatGPT added "official store" to its search. Four of those five answers linked Shopee pages; the fifth, a Chinese coffee question, linked two coffee brands' own shops. For one Malay coffee question, it limited its search to Shopee by itself.
OpenAI's help page for ChatGPT's separate shopping results says that when several shops sell the same item, "Merchants are ranked based on factors like availability, price, quality, and whether they are the maker or primary seller of that item"1. Being the maker counts, but only if ChatGPT can tell.
Shopee also has its own route in. Since June 2026, a Shopee app inside ChatGPT lets Malaysian users get product suggestions from Shopee before buying on Shopee2. That is separate from the links we counted.
What can't this test tell me about ChatGPT, Shopee and my own store?
- How often this holds. It's one model, on one day, with 15 answers, and answers change between runs.
- The ChatGPT app. We used OpenAI's API, which shows no product cards, no in-chat checkout and no Shopee app. The app can also use a person's chat history.
- Sales. We counted links, not clicks or orders.
How do I get ChatGPT to send shoppers to my own store instead of Shopee?
The kuih answers show the opening: ChatGPT does link small makers' own stores when it finds them.
- Request EasyFound's free check. See what ChatGPT links when shoppers ask something like "Where can I order good local coffee beans online? I'd like to support a Malaysian roaster." Then go through it with us on a free call.
- Make your own site say you're the maker. One shop page should name what you make, where it's made, and that you deliver across Malaysia. Here's how to write a page ChatGPT will quote.
- Use the words shoppers use. Write "official store" and "order online" on your own site. Our reading is that this gives a search for your official store your own site to find, not only your Shopee shop; we haven't tested it.
- Link your Shopee shop and your own site to each other, with the same brand name on both, so both read as one brand.
- Keep your Shopee store. It's where half of these links went, so treat your own site as an extra door, not a replacement.
EasyFound is an AI SEO service for Malaysian businesses. We put your customers' buying questions to six AI tools in English, Malay and Chinese, then work on the pages behind the answers, so more of them lead to your own store. The free check below is where to start.
Where does ChatGPT send your customers?
See what ChatGPT links when shoppers ask where to buy what you make, your own store or someone else's, then go through it with us on a free call.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT prefer Shopee over my own Shopify or website store?
In EasyFound's Malaysian test it linked Shopee more than anything else. We asked 13 questions about buying local products online on 1 October 2026, through OpenAI's API with web search and location set to Malaysia. Of the 61 links in its 15 answers, 30 went to Shopee pages. Brands' own websites were linked in 5 answers. These are links in ChatGPT's written answers; the API doesn't show the product cards or Shopee app you can get in the ChatGPT app. That is one model on one day, so treat it as a snapshot, not a rule.
Why does ChatGPT send people to Shopee instead of the brand's website?
Our reading is that Shopee pages are what its web search finds. In EasyFound's test, ChatGPT added 'official store' to its own web search in 5 of 15 answers. Four of those linked Shopee pages. In one Malay coffee question it limited its search to Shopee by itself. OpenAI says that when several shops sell the same item in its shopping results, it ranks them partly on 'whether they are the maker or primary seller of that item'.
Does ChatGPT link to Lazada or TikTok Shop when people ask where to buy?
Not in EasyFound's test. Across 15 ChatGPT answers about where to buy Malaysian products online (1 October 2026), Lazada and TikTok Shop got none of the 61 links. Lazada pages were in ChatGPT's search results for 3 answers, and Lazada was named in the text of 4 answers, but never linked. TikTok Shop wasn't mentioned at all.
Can I pay to have ChatGPT send shoppers to my own store?
Not into its shopping results, according to OpenAI. Its shopping help page says product results 'are selected independently by ChatGPT and are not ads, nor influenced by any OpenAI partnerships.' Ads, where they run, are shown separately and labelled. What you can change is what ChatGPT finds when it searches: a clear page on your own site saying what you make and how you deliver it.
Should I close my Shopee shop if I build my own online store?
Not because of ChatGPT. In EasyFound's Malaysian test, Shopee pages were about half of the links ChatGPT gave when people asked where to buy local products. Six of the 15 answers linked only Shopee. Moving shoppers to your own store means adding a strong own site alongside your Shopee store, not removing the store ChatGPT already finds.
Sources
Our data: EasyFound, Where ChatGPT linked shoppers asking where to buy Malaysian products online, October 2026. 13 shopper questions about buying local products online (7 in English, 4 in Bahasa Malaysia, 2 in Chinese), two of them asked twice, giving 15 answers. All were asked on 1 October 2026 through OpenAI's Responses API (model gpt-5.4-mini) with web search available and location set to Malaysia, not the ChatGPT app. Every answer searched the web. "Links" are the citations attached to the answer text; we classified each by site type by hand. A brand's own website means the maker's own domain or its own shop subdomain; one link to a brand's parent-company annual report counts as "other". So do five free Google Sites pages about clothing brands in one Malay answer: one sits on a university student account, and at least two of the brands run their own websites elsewhere, so we didn't treat them as the brands' own sites. Counting them would add one answer to the own-site total. Some questions were short keyword phrases rather than the chatty way people type. Download the classified links (CSV). We don't name the brands, sellers or retailers, because one test isn't a ranking.
Other sources:
- OpenAI, Shopping with ChatGPT Search, help page, read 5 October 2026 (link)
- Sea Limited, Sea and OpenAI strategic partnership announcement, 22 June 2026 (link)
The classified links are shared under CC BY 4.0: you're free to reuse them, with credit to EasyFound.
ChatGPT changes often; treat these figures as a dated measurement.
Research by Janice Pang, EasyFound.