ChatGPT has recently been driving 20% of Walmart’s traffic and handling 50M shopping queries a day. That was already a big deal.
This week? OpenAI just went further. You can now buy directly inside ChatGPT; no clicking out, no new tabs. Just:💬 Chat → 🛒 Browse → ✅ Checkout.
Why this matters:
What OpenAI + Stripe just launched isn’t another Amazon or Walmart. It’s bigger.
They’ve created something called the Agentic Commerce Protocol; it's universal “plumbing” that lets ChatGPT talk to any store’s backend.
- Your Shopify store → instant integration.
- That random Etsy shop selling ceramics → in ChatGPT.
- Global retail giants → in ChatGPT.
Instead of competing with marketplaces, OpenAI is building a universal shopping layer for the entire internet.
The implications are:
- Amazon’s gamble: They blocked ChatGPT from crawling their site. Now they’re invisible here, while Walmart, Etsy, and Shopify sellers are in prime position.
- Walmart’s win: They went from referral traffic to a direct sales channel for their 420M SKUs.
- Retail playbook reset: SEO as we know it won’t matter. ChatGPT rankings are based on relevance, quality, and conversational clarity.
The opportunity:
ChatGPT has 700M weekly users; more than double Amazon’s global user base. If even 1% start buying here, it’s a seismic shift.
What this means for you:
- 🛒 If you’re on Shopify/Stripe, look into the Agentic Commerce Protocol now.
- 🚫 If you’re Amazon-exclusive, you’re invisible here. Consider diversifying.
- ✍️ Product descriptions must read like conversations. Forget keyword stuffing — think clarity, context, helpfulness.
The bigger picture:
This is about more than shopping. It’s about agentic AI, where the AI doesn’t just help you browse, it makes decisions on your behalf.
For example you type: “Hey ChatGPT, my kid outgrew their shoes.” Then → ChatGPT orders two pairs based on past preferences, sizing, and weather. Delivered Thursday.
E-commerce is only one vertical. What we’re really seeing is AI becoming the layer between people and the internet.
- For businesses: this changes marketing, discovery, and sales channels overnight.
- For creators and professionals: it changes how your work is found and monetized.
- For all of us: it raises new questions around trust, transparency, and ethical AI commerce.
✨ Last week, ChatGPT was a traffic driver. Today, it’s a sales channel. Next week??? who knows.
AI isn’t just shaping the future of shopping; it’s rewriting the rules of how we discover, decide, and buy.
👉 What do you think: Is this the biggest disruption to retail since Amazon? Are we still underestimating how fast agentic AI is moving? Are you team Amazon or team Etsy / Walmart?
Have YOU worked on your AEO and updated your website?