The dawn of generative commerce: ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout.

By Alex Harmon
VP, Operations + Partnerships
MissionOne Media

This week, ChatGPT introduced Instant Checkout, a new feature that enables U.S. users to purchase directly from Etsy sellers within the chat.

And soon, over a million Shopify shops, like Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx, and Vuori, will join them.

With this move, the platform is very quickly becoming the one-stop shop for everything. 

• Need recommendations on foundations that match your skin tone? Upload a selfie, and ChatGPT will give you the perfect match. 

• Need help building a workout plan for your goals? ChatGPT’s got you covered. 

• Need the perfect button-down for your cousin’s wedding? You guessed it – ChatGPT acts as your personal shopper, checking you out all within the platform. 

By adding a buy button, ChatGPT became a point-of-sale—stepping into Google and Amazon’s territory in a way that could pay off big. 

• Intercept High-Value Queries: Snagging commercial questions before they ever reach Google. 

• Become the New “Front Door”: Positioning itself as the default starting point for online shopping, challenging Amazon’s dominance. 

• Unlock New Revenue: Creating a scalable transaction fee model to diversify from subscriptions, while conveniently avoiding a contentious ad model (for now). 

Let’s be real: consumer habits built over two decades won’t change overnight.  

Shoppers expect a rich, visual experience with trusted merchants, and ChatGPT’s current retail experience isn’t there… yet. 

Changing behavior takes time but OpenAI is playing the long game. 

So why is ChatGPT doing this, and what’s the REAL play here? 

This is about transforming ChatGPT from a tool you visit into a platform where you live. Why give you an idea and let you leave to transact elsewhere?  

The goal is to own the entire user journey in one place. With a reported 700 million weekly active users, this creates a massive flywheel effect. 

• Conversational Commerce: ask, compare, and buy all in one chat. 

• Own the moment of intent from idea to purchase. 

• Stickiness flywheel: More time in chat → more data → more loyalty → more value. 

This leaves one critical question for every brand and marketer out there: 

When the search bar is replaced by a conversation, how will you ensure your product is the answer? 

So, what COULD this mean for advertisers? 

Content optimization for ChatGPT and other LLMs becomes even more important.  

Just like the early days of SEO, we’re in the early days of Generative Engine Optimization with content that needs to be structured in a way that gives AI the correct context and precise answers to a user’s prompt.  

To boost your GEO, ramp up your: 

• FAQs
• Product overviews 
• Product comparisons 
• Troubleshooting guides 
• Trustworthy reviews and citations 

Finally, keep an eye out for ChatGPT’s sure-to-come advertising model—and get ready to navigate a new platform with its own unique optimization levers.

With the pace of change in AI, expect something sooner rather than later.  

Time will tell if this is simply a shift in demand from one platform to another or if ChatGPT will be able to create incremental demand. 

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Need help with monitoring and optimizing for ChatGPT and other LLMs? Let’s talk. Contact our EVP, Media + Growth, Pat LaCroix, at placroix@missiononemedia.com to learn more.