openai announced the release of "instant checkout" on its official website on september 29th. this allows users to directly purchase products within the conversational interface of chatgpt. this innovative feature is available to paid users of chatgpt pro and plus in the united states, as well as logged-in free users. currently, it supports purchases from etsy sellers and is expected to soon be available to more than one million shopify merchants, including brands such as glossier and skims.
this feature completely upgrades the existing shopping experience. previously, if a user asked a question like "what are some sneakers suitable for the office?", chatgpt would only display product information and external links. now, users can click the "buy" button and complete the transaction using various payment methods such as apple pay and google pay without leaving the conversational interface, enabling a seamless transition from product search to payment.
industry analysts point out that this conversational shopping experience has the potential to significantly change the way e-commerce operates. as users increasingly use ai assistants for consumer decision-making, the role of traditional search engines and e-commerce platforms as gatekeepers may be called into question. openai emphasizes that its product recommendations are "sponsorship-free", ranking based solely on relevance, and charging sellers a "small fee". the company also announced the open-sourcing of the "agent commerce protocol" (acp) developed in partnership with stripe, enabling other platforms to integrate similar features and further drive industry change.
