OpenAI takes on Google, Amazon with new agentic shopping system

Summary

ChatGPT users in the U.S. can now make Etsy and Shopify purchases within conversations, marking a next step towards the future of online shopping – both for consumers and the platforms that control product discovery, recommendation, and payments. In other words, OpenAI might be on the path to reshaping who holds power in e-commerce. OpenAI’s new “Instant Checkout” feature is available to ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Free logged-in users buying from U.S.-based Etsy sellers, with more than 1 million Shopify merchants like Glossier, Skims, Spanx, and Vuori “coming soon,” per OpenAI. Instant Checkout builds on previous shopping features on ChatGPT that surfaced relevant products, images, reviews, prices, and direct links to merchants in response to shopping questions like “what should I get my friend who loves ceramics?” or “best sneakers to wear to the office.” Now, instead of having to leave the conversation, users can just tap “Buy” to confirm their order, shipping, and payment details (options include Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe, or credit card) to complete the purchase. Last year, Perplexity introduced a similar in-chat shopping and payments feature. Microsoft also offers merchants the ability to create in-chat storefront capabilities with the Copilot Merchant Program. This type of frictionless experience has the potential to spark a new movement in how people shop online – one that moves away from search engines like Google and e-commerce platforms like Amazon towards conversational agents with curated recommendations, comparisons, and easy checkout experiences. It’s also setting the stage for new power brokers to emerge in e-commerce. Google and Amazon have long been the gatekeepers for retail discovery. If more purchases start inside AI chatbots, the firms behind them will suddenly have more control over what products are surfaced and what commissions or fees they charge. Both Amazon and Google have previously leveraged their dominance to favor their own products or...