Open AI - the proud parent of ChatGPT - calls it Instant Checkout, but the unofficial label - Buy in ChatGPT - captures the mood better. It’s a feature that feels small in practice, yet seismic in implication.
Because this isn’t just ChatGPT making recommendations any more. It’s ChatGPT transacting.
From recommender to retailer
The first wave of AI adoption taught us that people love conversational search - the ability to skip the traditional blue links of Google and just get an answer.
Now, we’re seeing the next evolution of search: skipping eCommerce websites altogether.
“Buy in ChatGPT” currently works with Etsy sellers, with Shopify merchants soon to follow. Users can discover, discuss, and purchase all within the same chat thread - without ever leaving the ChatGPT app.
This functionality is powered by something called the Agentic Commerce Protocol, a framework OpenAI built with Stripe to let AI agents make secure, authorised purchases.
A few years ago, that would have sounded like science fiction, today, it’s just another day online.
A small feature, a seismic shift
It’s tempting to see this as a convenience story - an easier way to buy things. And, it is, but it also points to a broader realignment and restructuring of the Internet.
For the past year, I’ve been writing about what I dub the ‘Two Tier Internet’. This consists of:
- The surface ‘top’ layer of AI interfaces (e.g. ChatGPT) that interpret, summarise and (will soon) transact.
- The substrate layer of websites, creators, and content that sit on the open web (as meditated by traditional search engines like Google).
Buy in ChatGPT deepens that divide. It doesn’t just keep users within the ChatGPT interface - it completes the loop. Discovery, persuasion, and purchase now happen inside the same sealed system.
For the user, that’s a smooth, seamless experience. But, for brands, it’s going to be disorientating.
To characterise it bluntly - if the conversation becomes the storefront, where does your eCommerce website fit?
Commerce without clicks
For eCommerce brands like yours, this moment matters.
For years, SEO and PPC were the gatekeepers of visibility. You created content, earned rankings, set up extensive paid campaigns - and you ultimately pulled customers from Google’s search results.
Now, those clicks are evaporating.
If a customer can discover and buy directly within ChatGPT, your ‘optimisation’ strategy will need to shift from search to representation - ensuring your products are the ones the AI models surface, recommend, and trust enough to transact with (via their agentic protocols).
It’s not about keyword density any more. It’s about technical excellence, data quality, brand authority, and machine readability.
The new middle layer
There’s also a subtler shift happening. As AI assistants take over the transactional layer, they’re becoming the new middlemen - the ones who own the customer relationship. The brand becomes the supplier; the AI, the interface.
It’s the same story that played out on Amazon, then Google, and of course on social media platforms.
Only now, the middle layer doesn’t just host or display commerce - it performs it.
A footnote for the future
Right now, Buy in ChatGPT is limited: one item at a time, U.S. only.
But, it’s a clear signal of intent and direction.
The AI chat interface isn’t just a window onto the web any more (as Google is). It’s slowly becoming the web itself - or at least the part that most people will interact with.
As eCommerce marketing specialists, we’ve spent the last two decades learning how to attract attention and garner website clicks. The next challenge? Learning how to be understood - not by consumers, but the agents that will be acting on their behalf.
Because, if ChatGPT can now recommend and buy, then the conversation isn’t just the message. It’s the marketplace.
What next?
You need to start thinking about how your eCommerce brand can take advantage of this latest development from OpenAI and ChatGPT.
Depending on what platform your store is on, will determine your next steps:
- Already on Etsy? You’re eligible out of the box. Make sure your listings are complete (titles, attributes, variants, shipping/returns), then opt in when prompted.
- On Shopify (or moving to it)? You’ll be supported next, so get your product catalogue, payments and policies sorted now.
- Not on Etsy/Shopify? Then apply for Instant Checkout and start building for the open Agentic Commerce Protocol. This is the route for custom carts, headless, and marketplaces.
Need eCommerce experts to do this on your behalf? Then speak to the Velstar team now.