OpenAI has completely reworked its shopping strategy for ChatGPT. After the failed Instant Checkout — Walmart pulled out because conversion rates were three times lower than on their own website — OpenAI is taking a different approach.
What’s changing
Instead of letting you buy directly in ChatGPT, OpenAI is now focusing on product discovery. The new Agentic Commerce Protocol turns ChatGPT into a visual shopping assistant. You can browse products visually, upload images to find similar items, compare options side-by-side — including prices, reviews, and features — and refine results conversationally.
Walmart is getting its own in-ChatGPT app experience with customer account linking, loyalty program integration, and Walmart payments. Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Best Buy, and Home Depot have already integrated the new protocol as well.
Why this is interesting
The pivot from ‘buy in ChatGPT’ to ‘discover in ChatGPT’ is smart. OpenAI realized that users are happy to research and compare with AI, but prefer to complete the actual purchase on a platform they know. That’s not a defeat — it’s realism.
My take
AI-assisted shopping is a massive market that all the big players are chasing. Google does it through search, Amazon through Alexa, and OpenAI is trying through ChatGPT. The question is: will we actually shop through a chatbot someday? I’m still skeptical. But product search and comparison — that might actually work.
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