OpenAI's ChatGPT Shopping: How Instant Checkout Changes eCommerce

On September 29, 2025, OpenAI launched Instant Checkout — a feature that lets ChatGPT users discover and purchase products without ever leaving the conversation. It's the first mainstream example of what the industry is calling agentic commerce.

How Instant Checkout Works

When a ChatGPT user asks a shopping-related question — say, "What's a good gift for a coffee lover?" — the AI recommends relevant products. If Instant Checkout is available for a product, a "Buy" button appears right in the conversation.

The user taps "Buy," confirms shipping and payment details, and the order is placed — all within ChatGPT. Supported payment methods include credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Stripe Link.

No app switching. No add-to-cart-and-forget. The entire discovery-to-purchase flow happens in one conversation.

The Agentic Commerce Protocol

Under the hood, Instant Checkout is powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) — an open-source framework co-developed by OpenAI and Stripe. ACP defines how AI agents communicate with merchant systems to:

• Discover available products
• Present pricing and availability
• Securely process payments
• Hand off fulfillment to the merchant

The fact that OpenAI made this an open protocol (not a closed system) is significant. It signals that agentic commerce will be an industry-wide shift, not a single-platform feature.

What's Live Now

As of the announcement, U.S.-based Etsy sellers are the first merchants live on the platform. Over one million Shopify merchants are next in line, including major brands like Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx, Vuori, Away, and Stanley 1913.

Key details for merchants:

• Discovery is free — products are ranked by relevance, not by payment
• No price markup — shoppers pay the same price as on the merchant's store
• Merchants keep control — orders, fulfillment, customer relationships, and data stay with the merchant
• Small commission on completed purchases (similar to marketplace fees)

Why This Matters

Instant Checkout represents a fundamental shift in the customer journey. Instead of:

1. Search on Google → Click a result → Browse the store → Add to cart → Checkout

The new flow is:

1. Ask ChatGPT → Get a recommendation → Buy

Fewer steps means higher conversion. And with ChatGPT's 200+ million weekly active users, the potential reach is enormous.

The Bigger Picture: AI as a Shopping Channel

ChatGPT Shopping is just the beginning. Google is rolling out similar capabilities through Gemini and AI Mode. Perplexity has experimented with shopping features. Every major AI platform is building commerce functionality.

This creates a new imperative for merchants: your products need to be discoverable by AI agents, not just by search engines.

Traditional SEO optimizes for Google's ranking algorithm. The emerging discipline of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) focuses on making your products visible to AI systems that synthesize answers rather than rank links.

What Merchants Should Do Now

1. Clean up your product data. AI agents rely on structured data — complete product descriptions, accurate pricing, high-quality images, and proper schema markup.

2. Build a comprehensive knowledge base. AI agents need context beyond your catalog — shipping policies, return processes, sizing guides, brand story.

3. Enable AI commerce integrations. If you're on Shopify, ensure your store is ready for ChatGPT and other AI platform integrations as they roll out.

4. Deploy an AI agent on your own site. Third-party AI agents drive discovery, but when customers land on your store, you need your own AI to close the sale. That's where CHATTERgo comes in — a purpose-built AI agent for your Shopify or Magento store.

5. Monitor and optimize. Track which products are being recommended by AI agents and optimize accordingly.

The era of agentic commerce has begun. The merchants who prepare now will capture the first-mover advantage.