OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature, launched last fall, initially promised a revolutionary shift in e-commerce by allowing users to purchase products directly through its ChatGPT chatbot. Major retailers such as Etsy, Walmart, and Shopify quickly embraced this capability, with Shopify’s President Harley Finkelstein declaring it the “new frontier” of online shopping. Fast forward several months, OpenAI is revising its approach, moving away from Instant Checkout to focus on creating dedicated applications for retailers within ChatGPT. This shift aims to enhance the user experience by directing customers to retailers’ websites for purchases, thus granting companies greater control over transactions.
Bob Hetu, an analyst at Gartner, remarked that OpenAI underestimated the complexities inherent in enabling transactions. “It’s not easy for retailers,” he noted in an interview with CNBC. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the pivot, stating that the company is prioritizing improvements in search and product discovery within the chatbot, areas that have shown early user engagement.
This strategic change raises questions about whether the hype surrounding shopping bots was perhaps overstated. The challenges faced by AI startups like OpenAI illustrate the difficulty of disrupting an e-commerce landscape dominated by giants such as Amazon. While OpenAI is working to refine its commerce strategy, competitors like Google are making advances. Recent updates to Google’s shopping agent have improved real-time data loading, thereby reducing out-of-stock issues and enabling users to add multiple items to their shopping carts-a functionality not yet fully realized in ChatGPT.
OpenAI’s original vision for Instant Checkout was to redefine agentic commerce, offering a streamlined buying process directly within the chatbot. They planned to charge a small fee for each transaction but did not disclose further financial details. Initially, Instant Checkout enabled buyers to purchase products from U.S. Etsy sellers and expected to incorporate offerings from more than a million Shopify merchants. However, onboarding merchants proved challenging, and errors were common. By last month, approximately 30 Shopify merchants were accessible via the feature.
According to Walmart, about 200,000 products were available through ChatGPT, though information on Etsy’s availability remains sparse. Analyst Emily Pfeiffer of Forrester criticized the data collection methods employed by OpenAI, which included scraping retailer websites-leading to inaccuracies regarding stock levels and pricing.
In response to this evolving landscape, OpenAI recently introduced its Apps SDK at an annual developer conference, incorporating dedicated retail applications for partners like Instacart and Target into ChatGPT. Shopify confirmed plans for a revised e-commerce experience, allowing users to discover products within ChatGPT but necessitating checkout through retailers’ websites.
Walmart’s AI executive, Daniel Danker, suggested that OpenAI’s Instant Checkout represented a temporary phase, anticipating a seamless integration of its Sparky AI assistant into ChatGPT soon. Both Walmart and Etsy have noted that dedicated applications will improve control and data insights throughout the shopping journey.
Yet, initial data indicates that while consumers are exploring AI chatbots for product inquiries, few are completing purchases within these platforms. Research from Adobe-owned Semrush found only 22% of users bought products via AI tools. In contrast, Walmart reported significantly lower conversion rates for products sold directly in ChatGPT versus those routing to retailer sites.
Amid these developments, the looming presence of Amazon cannot be ignored. Recently, Amazon has been advancing its own AI capabilities and has fortified its partnership with OpenAI, launching initiatives alongside substantial investments in the firm. Despite Amazon’s aggressive defense of its e-commerce territory by blocking AI agents from accessing its site, the evolving landscape of AI shopping suggests that the interplay between traditional and AI-driven retail is just beginning.
As OpenAI navigates this transition, analysts call for patience, asserting that the future of AI in shopping remains uncertain but full of potential. “Everyone thinks everyone else is ahead,” Pfeiffer remarked, reinforcing that no entity has fully mastered this evolving field.
As the dialogue continues, retailers must remain adaptable, and the onus will be on OpenAI to refine its offerings in a competitive space that is still figuring out its direction.
Original Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/20/open-ai-agentic-shopping-etsy-shopify-walmart-amazon.html
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Publish Date: 2026-03-20 22:53:00
