OpenAI announced Instant Checkout, “powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol, built with Stripe,” starting in the U.S. for Etsy, with Shopify “coming soon.” It supports single‑item purchases now, with multi‑item carts and broader regions to follow.
The flow is straightforward: ask for a gift, get product options with visuals, and see a Checkout button right in chat.
The transaction path is designed to connect safely with stores rather than expose card data in the chat - a key reassurance for early users who worry about privacy.
Based on the OpenAI report "How People Use ChatGPT" published on September 15th, we can predict several potential outcomes of this change.
Let's look at the numbers:
The real question is: how many of these are strong purchase intent versus research intent?
Discovery in chat doesn’t automatically equal checkout in chat. A big portion of those queries are research‑oriented, not “buy now.”
Short answer from both Damian and Matt: not by itself.
It’s a credible new source of product discovery and traffic, especially as ChatGPT usage skews increasingly non‑work (around 70%), which implies more consumer use cases ahead. But “traffic” isn’t “immediate sales.”
People still want to:
Think of entrenched channels like Walmart or Amazon: presence and trust compound. We don’t see Instant Checkout suddenly replacing those.
Instead, expect ChatGPT to recommend and route traffic - to brand sites, to marketplaces, to store aisles - more often over time.
Treat ChatGPT as valid, growing discovery. Expect more qualified visits, not an overnight shift in revenue mix.
Preserve the research journey. If a visitor lands from ChatGPT, meet them where they are. Detect UTM parameters and greet them with a “Let’s finish what you started in chat” path that continues recommendation logic on‑site.
Earn trust fast. Instant Checkout lowers friction for known brands, but for first‑time shoppers your site still needs to do the heavy lifting: clarity, proof, comparisons, returns, and pricing logic.
Chat excels because it learns context. Your site should mirror that continuity.
Use a brand “AI guide” that’s more than a support bot. Make it your best salesperson, steeped in product knowledge, routines, comparisons, and brand stories.
Continue the chat context on‑site. If traffic comes from ChatGPT, persist the Q&A state and keep helping.
Favor simple, purposeful flows. Think Domino’s early app simplicity applied to ecommerce: fewer steps, more relevance.
There’s a “mere exposure effect” to AI headlines. Read enough posts and it feels like AI will dominate ecommerce overnight.
In reality:
According to official OpenAI communication, the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is open-sourced and aims to "work across platforms, payment processors, and business types."
What's more, the application form for DTC stores has been updated. As the Practical Commerce article explains, it's for merchants not on Etsy or Shopify who want to "1) integrate their products into ChatGPT Search results and 2) enable Instant Checkout in ChatGPT via the Agentic Commerce Protocol."
In short, even beyond what we've discussed, we can expect integrations with other platforms in the near future.
We're not forecasting that 10–30% of a store's sales will suddenly move to ChatGPT. Discovery will rise. Trust still wins. The job is to make the handoff from chat to site feel like one continuous, helpful conversation.
Polski