ChatGPT is turning conversation into commerce
ChatGPT is evolving from chat partner to shopping destination. The AI now surfaces shoppable product results when users ask queries like “best 18V drill under $150.” These listings include product images, pricing, reviews, and direct merchant links, ranked by signals like price, availability, and customer satisfaction, not paid placement. OpenAI
Buying happens inside the chat
OpenAI is testing Instant Checkout, allowing U.S. users to purchase eligible products directly within ChatGPT. The pilot begins with Etsy sellers and will soon expand to Shopify merchants. The experience is seamless: users shop and pay without leaving the conversation, while retailers remain the merchant of record , managing fulfillment, returns, and customer service.
Multi-item carts and international expansion are next. It’s a shift that turns ChatGPT from a discovery tool into a commerce channel, one that compresses the entire buying journey into a single interaction.
Apps become the new brand interface
OpenAI’s Apps SDK opens the door for brands to build their own interactive experiences inside ChatGPT. These “apps within chat” act like mini digital storefronts that pull live data and let users take action instantly; “Canva, design a product card” becomes an interactive session.
Launch partners include Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Expedia, Figma, Spotify, and Zillow, with expansion already underway. For retailers, it signals the start of a new era where AI not only recommends products, it hosts the entire experience.OpenAI
What this means for specialty retailers
- AI favors precision over scale: For specialty retailers, where shoppers have specific needs (“best cruelty-free serum for sensitive skin” or “drill with torque for masonry”), AI-powered chat levels the field. Relevance, not reach, becomes the competitive edge.
- Conversations are the new storefronts: Prompts like “eco-friendly yoga gear under $50” or “ultralight hiking kit for a 3-day trip” now surface curated, shoppable cards complete with images, pricing, and a buy button. The traditional funnel, discovery, consideration, conversion, collapses into one continuous conversation.
- Structured data is the new shelf space: In this world, visibility isn’t bought. It’s earned. Structured product data, clean metadata, accurate availability, and credible reviews now determine placement in AI-curated results. For specialty retailers, optimizing feeds is no longer a technical chore, it’s your new merchandising strategy.
- Omnichannel evolves into omnichat: ChatGPT introduces an entirely new retail surface. Discovery and even conversion may happen beyond your owned ecosystem, but your checkout, payment, and confirmation pages still anchor profitability. These are the moments where control, differentiation, and margin remain in your hands.
How Rokt fits into an AI-led shopping experience
Even as chat-based shopping grows, the Transaction Moment™, the cart, payment, and confirmation steps on your site, remains your most profitable digital real estate. This is where Rokt helps brands turn every transaction into a high-value experience.
- Rokt Pay+: Enhances the payments step with relevant wallet and tender experiences that increase profit without adding friction.
- Rokt Aftersell: Delivers context-aware upsells during checkout and post-purchase to drive higher AOV.
- Rokt Thanks: Maximizes the confirmation page’s potential by balancing brand initiatives with incremental revenue and loyalty offers.
Why this complements ChatGPT
ChatGPT generates intent. Rokt helps you capture and maximize it.
When shoppers click out from ChatGPT’s organic product cards, your experience must instantly tailor the next best action to the user’s task. Rokt’s decisioning engine ensures relevance at every step so you do not lose momentum.
As Instant Checkout expands, retailers remain the merchant of record. That means the confirmation page, service notifications, and loyalty moments still live with you. Rokt helps you maximize them for business outcomes and customer value.
The Bottom line
Chat is becoming a place to buy, not just browse. OpenAI is collapsing product discovery and purchase inside a single interface, and that will send new, qualified traffic your way.
For specialty retailers, this is both a challenge and an opportunity:
- Challenge: Compete for organic visibility inside AI-driven shopping experiences.
- Opportunity: Redefine how and where profit is made once that customer reaches your site.
Rokt ensures that when shoppers arrive, or when you own the transaction, you make every click, payment, and thank-you moment count.
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