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Asked where a product is cheapest, ChatGPT took the lowest number it could find. On retailer sites that also list marketplace sellers, open-box or refurbished units, that number was often not the store's own price. In Core dna's November 2026 US test, four of the 13 wrong prices were marketplace sellers on Best Buy and Walmart presented as the store's own. A Garmin listing ChatGPT called Best Buy's "lowest verified advertised price" was a third-party seller charging $99.99 for shipping.
Naming the seller and condition for every offer, on the page, in structured data (the seller and itemCondition fields of each Offer) and in product feeds, makes the store's own price easier to tell apart. Product Feed Optimization for AI Shopping covers the data work.
Yes, in the US. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in February 2026 (OpenAI) and opened a self-serve Ads Manager with cost-per-click bidding on May 5, 2026 (OpenAI). Ads show to logged-in adults on the Free and Go tiers. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education plans don't show ads.
In Core dna's November 2026 test of Black Friday shopping questions, 37 of 40 answers carried an ad. Advertisers included retailers such as Best Buy, SCHEELS and Ulta Beauty, brands such as Oura and SharkNinja, and Capital One Shopping, a price comparison tool. For how to approach them, read ChatGPT Ads and eCommerce: What Merchants Should Actually Do Now.
OpenAI says ads don't influence the answers ChatGPT gives. Ads appear below the answer, labeled as sponsored, and are matched to the topic of the conversation, past chats and past ad interactions (OpenAI).
Because the ad and the answer are produced separately, they can disagree. In Core dna's November 2026 US test, Best Buy's ad showed the Sony WH-1000XM6 at $458, its comparison value, under an answer that had Best Buy's real price, $378. For the JBL Flip 7 it went the other way: the answer quoted a Best Buy price Best Buy wasn't offering, and Best Buy's ad underneath showed the right one. See the full findings.
When Core dna asked ChatGPT where 20 popular Black Friday products were cheapest in the US, every answer named at least one NRF Top 100 retailer, and 35 of 40 recommended one as the cheapest place to buy. Best Buy was recommended in 13 answers, Walmart in 12 and Amazon in 11.
Being named isn't the same as being recommended. Target appeared in 25 answers and was recommended in none, usually because its price was a cent above the store that won. Being recommended didn't mean the price was right either: about a third of the recommendations quoted a price the store wasn't charging. See the full US findings.
Every franchise website needs brand templates, a page for each location with a store locator, forms and analytics that work by location, and fast, mobile-friendly, accessible pages. Depending on how your network runs, it may also need franchise recruitment pages, franchisee access with approvals, an online store with stock and orders by location, a portal where store teams manage online orders, and a B2B portal for trade and business customers.
It depends on the setup, the number of locations and the integrations the website needs. Location page tools and franchise website builders often charge per location per month. Platforms and custom builds usually charge a license or subscription plus a one-off build. Ask each vendor what the website costs at your current number of locations and at double that number, what it costs to add one location, and what ongoing maintenance includes.
Yes, if the platform supports permissions by location. Head office keeps the brand, templates, products and prices, and opens only the fields each franchisee needs, such as opening hours, local offers, events and photos. Franchisee changes go to head office for approval before they go live, and every change is recorded with who made it and when.
Give franchisees their own websites when they run as independent businesses, sell different products or services, or joined the network with websites of their own. Otherwise, a page or microsite for each location on your main website is simpler to run: one brand, one domain building search presence, and one set of templates to maintain. If franchisees do need their own websites, build them from one brand template on one platform, so head office can still update the brand and shared content across every site.
Franchise website development is building the website setup a franchise network runs on. That covers the brand template, a page, microsite or website for each location, the access each franchisee has, and the integrations with stock, orders, bookings and point of sale. Common setups range from one central website with a page for each store to separate franchisee websites built from one brand template.
Most franchise networks go live in 6 to 10 weeks, and the people who build the platform run the implementation.
- Week 1: we map your locations, catalog, store data and who edits what.
- Weeks 2 to 5: your templates, the location page template, head office and franchisee permissions, and the catalog and stock feeds.
- Weeks 6 and 7: content is migrated and mapped, redirects are set up, and each location's team is onboarded.
- Weeks 8 to 10: launch, with your implementation lead on standby.
After launch the same team stays on, with a dedicated success manager and quarterly business reviews.
Yes. Many partners start by referring and move to Build once their team is trained.
No. Training and a private sandbox come after approval, at no cost.
Build partners start at Gold. After 12 months, your level follows how involved you are in sales, build and support.
We review every application within 2 business days. Your partner manager then contacts you to confirm your path and book your orientation.
Where prices, credit limits, stock, order history and invoices live, and whether each can be read in real time or only in batches. Check the quality of customer and product data, and list the ERP processes the website must trigger, such as creating customers and sales orders.