The Missing Link Between Discovery And Purchase

OpenAI may have overestimated the market need for cart completions directly within ChatGPT and the experiential differentiator. Commerce Media Columnist Kiri Masters shared her Instant Checkout experience with The Drum as “Fine. Not bad. Not broken. Just not meaningfully better than what I already do on Amazon or Target. I never went back.”

Despite an apparent lack of perceived benefits with the Instant Checkout model, it appears AI is fast becoming the trusted guide for product and brand discovery. The Capgemini What Matters to Today’s Consumer 2026 global report shows that 25% of consumers have already used Gen AI shopping tools, while a further 31% plan to use them in the future. Additionally, 69% trust a digital assistant to recommend new products or deals if it explains why it made those choices.

So, was the shelving of Instant Checkout down to the complexity of online commerce? Masters explained that, “Product data across the internet is too messy, unstandardized, and fragmented to allow an AI agent to reliably automate checkouts without risking financial errors or inventory disputes.” She continues, “The Agentic Commerce Protocol survives in narrower form, but the in-chat checkout layer is gone.”

The Keyword recently reported on Shopify’s investor conference announcement that only around a dozen of its merchants are currently live on any agentic commerce platform. However, the company still appears to be betting on the agentic shift. Shopify announced in a recent email sent to merchants, “Coming later in March: ChatGPT in Agentic Storefronts. Buyers can find your products and complete purchases inside ChatGPT. This agentic storefront channel will launch by default for your store, and you will be able to modify settings in your Admin.”

Merchants’ products will still appear inside ChatGPT conversations. However, shoppers will typically complete purchases on the merchant’s online storefront. Details are yet to be confirmed on whether that happens through an in-app browser inside the ChatGPT mobile app or through a separate browser tab on desktop.

CEO of Athos Commerce, Chuck Haling, comments, “This is a crucial moment for retailers to get ahead of their competition by strengthening the foundations of discoverability. That means optimizing product data across every channel for accuracy, consistency, and ready for AI-driven environments.”

What OpenAI’s Pivot Means For Retailers Right Now

OpenAI is now putting apps and retailer sites back at the center of the agentic commerce experience. For Australian retailers, the retreat from Instant Checkout doesn’t reduce urgency. It increases it. Modern Retail reported an OpenAI spokesperson’s statement, “We’re evolving how we approach commerce in ChatGPT to better meet merchants and users where they are. We’re prioritizing making ChatGPT search and product discovery great, with the Agentic Commerce Protocol serving as the infrastructure that connects users to merchants across the full shopping journey.” The spokesperson added, “Instant Checkout is moving to Apps, where purchases can happen more seamlessly.” 

AI is already reshaping how products are discovered. ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI tools are influencing what shoppers see, compare, and consider before they land on a retailer’s website. Even without checkout, AI platforms are becoming powerful discovery engines. Retailer websites continue to act as the conversion engine.

Haling comments, “The core principles of retail haven’t changed, but the pathways to discovery have. Retailers should focus on strengthening high-performing channels while ensuring their product data is optimized for AI-driven discovery. From there, well-optimized on-site experiences become critical to turning that demand into conversion.”

As explained in a recent Athos Commerce webinar, Beyond Product Data Feeds – Winning The Shift To Agentic Commerce, AI tools rely heavily on structured, enriched, and accurate product data. If product feeds are incomplete, inconsistent, or generic, shoppers may never discover them.

The Discovery Window For Retailers Is Open

OpenAI’s Instant Checkout retreat may have just clarified the real opportunity of agentic commerce in retail. Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis Jason Goldberg expressed in a recent Forbes article, “The right posture is to prepare to be a fast follower. That means investing in structured product data so that agents can read and understand your catalog.” He outlined the benefits of running small tests, gathering insights, and breaking down the silos between eCommerce, marketing, and brand teams, which can position retailers to move fast and define their competitive advantage. Goldberg noted, “Most of these investments pay off even if agentic commerce never reaches the scale its advocates predict.”

Haling adds, “The risk for retailers is not disruption, but a lack of visibility. As AI reshapes how products are discovered, retailers must ensure their data is ready to surface in those environments. When they support this with fast, relevant on-site search, intelligent merchandising, and personalised product recommendations, they can effectively turn AI-driven discovery into conversion and long-term loyalty.”

The question is no longer whether AI will influence commerce. It already is. The real question is how each retailer’s products will feature in that conversation.