To support the experience, OpenAI is extending its Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to include product discovery. The system allows merchants to provide product feeds and promotions so their catalogs appear more completely in ChatGPT responses. The company said this improves the accuracy and timeliness of results while expanding product coverage.
The feature is being released this week to ChatGPT users across free, Go, Plus, and Pro tiers. OpenAI said the update builds on a growing pattern of users starting their shopping process inside ChatGPT, using conversation to refine preferences and evaluate options before making a purchase.
The company is positioning ACP as the underlying infrastructure connecting merchants and users during discovery. Retailers including Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Lowe’s, Best Buy, The Home Depot, and Wayfair have already integrated into the protocol. Shopify merchants are also included through Shopify Catalog, which allows their products to appear in ChatGPT without additional setup.
“Millions of Shopify merchants are open for business in ChatGPT,” said Mani Fazeli, vice president of product at Shopify. “When buyers look for products, the Shopify Catalog offers the most relevant options from the brands that people love. They can complete purchases on the merchant’s online store through an in-app browser, so everything happens seamlessly, with the merchant’s brand front and center. This is AI shopping at scale.”
OpenAI is also adjusting how transactions are handled. The company said it is moving away from its earlier Instant Checkout approach, opting instead to let merchants manage their own checkout experiences while ChatGPT focuses on discovery.
Some partners are building deeper integrations. Walmart is launching an in-ChatGPT experience that connects product discovery to a tailored Walmart environment with account linking, loyalty features, and payments. The feature is currently available on web, with mobile support expected later.
“By partnering closely with OpenAI, we’ve been able to learn together as we move quickly to shape what agentic commerce can become,” said Daniel Danker, Walmart’s executive vice president of AI acceleration, product and design. “Today’s launch brings Walmart directly into the ChatGPT experience, combining leading conversational AI with the decades of retail expertise we’ve built serving customers.”
OpenAI said it will continue to iterate on the shopping experience, with future updates expected to expand personalization, local availability, and delivery estimates as ACP evolves.
This analysis is based on reporting from openai.
Image courtesy of OpenAI.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
