Shopify Activates ChatGPT Product Discovery for All Stores

Shopify has told merchants that all stores will appear inside ChatGPT by default in late March through agentic storefronts, according to Modern Retail. "Buyers can find your products and complete purchases inside ChatGPT. This agentic storefront channel will launch by default for your store,” the platform told merchants in an email. 

According to Modern Retail, orders will still flow through Shopify's payment infrastructure, and the integration is powered by the Agentic Storefronts system Shopify introduced in its Winter '26 Edition.

How discovery and purchasing now work

When a ChatGPT user searches for a product, Shopify merchant catalogs are surfaced in the conversation. The change from the original model is where the transaction happens inside ChatGPT through Instant Checkout. 

OpenAl launched Instant Checkout in September 2025, which allowed users to buy products without leaving ChatGPT. However, OpenAI confirmed to Modern Retail that the model is being deprioritized. "We're evolving how we approach commerce in ChatGPT to better meet merchants and users where they are," an OpenAl spokesperson told Modern Retail. "Instant Checkout is moving to Apps, where purchases can happen more seamlessly."

A recent report said the company was scaling back that approach after finding that users browsed and compared products in ChatGPT, but rarely completed purchases in-chat. With this new development, buyers will be able to complete purchases on the merchant's own storefront through an in-app browser on mobile or a new tab on desktop, rather than finishing the transaction inside the chat. 

Where the growth signals are

Despite the checkout retreat, the underlying demand for AI-driven product discovery is growing. AI-driven traffic to Shopify stores has increased 7x since January 2025, and AI-attributed orders are up 11x over the same period. Shopify is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer connecting merchants to every major AI platform: beyond ChatGPT, agentic storefronts also connect to Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. The company co-developed the Universal Commerce Protocol with Google, endorsed by more than 20 retailers.

At a recent investor conference, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein noted that only about a dozen merchants among the platform's millions are currently using AI tools to sell products, with the slow expansion tied to AI infrastructure still being developed. The late March launch, which activates all stores by default, is designed to accelerate that adoption.

Fee differences across AI platforms

The cost structure varies by platform. Merchants pay OpenAI a 4% fee on sales completed through ChatGPT checkout, on top of Shopify's standard transaction and payment processing fees. Google AI Mode and Gemini currently charge no additional fees. Microsoft Copilot integration is also live with embedded checkout. That fee gap could influence where merchants focus their AI commerce strategy as these channels scale.

OpenAI and Stripe will continue developing the Agentic Commerce Protocol as the technical standard connecting AI platforms to merchant infrastructure, even as the in-chat checkout model gives way to merchant-site purchasing.

What this means for merchants

The late March launch makes agentic storefronts a default feature, meaning merchants do not need to opt in for product discovery. Products from all Shopify stores will be eligible to appear in ChatGPT responses. Merchants who prefer not to participate can adjust their settings through the Shopify dashboard.

For brands already managing multi-platform Al commerce, the purchasing model change simplifies one key concern: merchants retain the checkout experience on their own sites, preserving access to customer data, saved payment methods, and post-purchase flows. The trade-off is that the seamless in-chat buying experience OpenAl originally envisioned is no longer part of the equation.