At Valere we often say: strategy comes before tools. Over the past 15 years in marketing, I have seen waves of technology transform how businesses engage customers. Search engines, social platforms, and mobile each reshaped the rules of discovery and conversion. Most of the time, new tools simply accelerated existing strategies.
This time feels different. With the launch of ChatGPT Merchants and the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), we are not just talking about another channel. We are witnessing the beginning of AI eCommerce, a new way of buying that could redefine entire industries.
From Search to Conversation to Checkout
Until now, the digital customer journey always carried friction. A consumer might discover a product through search, compare alternatives across sites, click through to a marketplace, and finally check out.
ChatGPT collapses that flow into a single conversation. A user can ask for “the best carry-on under $200,” see curated recommendations, and complete the purchase directly in the chat.
OpenAI’s new Instant Checkout makes this possible. Starting in the U.S. with Etsy and soon Shopify, consumers can buy a product without leaving the assistant. For now, it supports single-item purchases, but OpenAI has already confirmed this will expand to multi-item carts and new regions.
This is not just incremental efficiency. It is a fundamental reshaping of commerce:
- Discovery happens in conversation rather than search results
- Transactions occur seamlessly inside the assistant instead of redirecting to another site
- AI curates and contextualizes product recommendations, shifting how consumers make choices
Why This Moment Matters for AI eCommerce
I have learned to be cautious about hype. Many tools promise disruption and fade away. But some innovations clearly mark an inflection point. This feels like one of them.
What makes it transformative?
- Frictionless transactions: removing steps between intent and purchase drives higher conversion
- Contextual recommendations: ChatGPT doesn’t just list products; it explains them, making AI part of the decision-making process
- Flattened journeys: awareness, evaluation, and purchase can all occur in a single exchange
- Strategic unlocks: ACP allows companies to integrate into an AI-native commerce ecosystem without reengineering their backend
This is not a feature release. It is the start of a new paradigm in digital commerce.
The Role of the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)
The ACP is an open standard that enables AI agents to interact with merchants for product discovery, checkout, and payments. It is being developed with partners like Stripe, Shopify, and Etsy to ensure trust, security, and interoperability.
Merchants remain the “merchant of record,” handling payment processing, fulfillment, support, and returns. The assistant acts as a facilitator, not a replacement for existing merchant systems.
Why does this matter? Because ACP ensures this new model will not be limited to ChatGPT alone. Any AI assistant could, in theory, connect with merchants through the same protocol. For businesses, this opens the door to reaching consumers across multiple AI platforms with one integration.
Opportunities and Risks for Business Leaders
For executives and decision-makers, the implications are both exciting and challenging.
Opportunities include:
- Access to a new global sales channel through ChatGPT
- Reduced barriers to entry for growing brands
- Direct access to AI-native consumers
- Integration of content, discovery, and commerce in a single flow
Risks and challenges include:
- Dependence on opaque AI ranking and surfacing algorithms
- Margin pressure from transaction commissions
- Less control over customer experience inside the chat
This duality is critical. Leaders who prepare now can capture advantage. Those who wait may find themselves competing at a disadvantage in a channel already dominated by early movers.
What Companies Should Do Now
The question is not whether AI eCommerce will matter. It is how quickly your company will prepare. At Valere we recommend:
- Optimize product data for AI Ensure metadata, descriptions, reviews, and availability are structured so that ACP-enabled assistants can surface products effectively.
- Audit AI readiness Assess whether your systems are prepared for AI agents to interact with your catalog and checkout. You can start with our AI Maturity Assessment.
- Build an AI adoption roadmap This shift is larger than one tool. Companies need a cross-functional approach. Explore our AI Transformation eBook to map your path.
- Experiment and iterate Pilot selected products in AI-driven commerce, test presentation formats, and measure conversion directly within chat.
- Stay multichannel AI eCommerce is powerful, but it will coexist with SEO, paid ads, and traditional marketplaces. Balance your mix.
Strategy Beyond the Tool
Yes, this begins with a tool. But what matters most is the behavior it unlocks: consumers making purchases through conversation. This is conversational commerce, realized at scale.
Just as mobile reshaped eCommerce in the 2010s, AI commerce will reshape it in the 2020s. The winners will not be those who simply plug into ACP, but those who rethink their entire customer journey strategy for an AI-native environment.
The time to act is now. If your competitors are already discoverable and purchasable inside ChatGPT, you are already behind.
If you want to move beyond the headlines and actually capture value from AI eCommerce, Valere can help.
We begin with AI Assessment & Planning, identifying the areas with the highest ROI potential for your business. From there, we guide you through a structured process of discovery, design, and development, ensuring AI adoption is not just a pilot, but a sustainable growth strategy.
