What is ChatGPT Instant Checkout

A new shift in online shopping is happening... in the US right now, but NZ will not be far behind.

It is known as agentic commerce.

It refers to AI systems that can help users discover products, compare options and complete purchases (including on their behalf). One of the first practical applications of this is Instant Checkout, which is now rolling out in the United States.

Instant Checkout allows customers to discover and buy products directly within an AI conversation. Rather than clicking from an ad, through to a website, adding items to a cart and completing a traditional checkout process, the entire transaction can happen inside the chat interface. The AI presents relevant products based on the user’s intent, confirms pricing and availability, and enables payment using secure, tokenised payment methods connected to the merchant’s existing systems.

For you, it does not replace your website or ecommerce platform. Instead, it acts as an EXTRA sales and discovery channel. Powered by Stripe which so many of you already have.

Instant Checkout is not a paid advertising platform in its current form. Products are not surfaced through bidding or ad spend in the way Google Ads or Meta Ads operate. Instead, visibility is driven by relevance, product quality and how well a merchant’s data matches the user’s intent. 

In the United States, Instant Checkout is already live for some merchants, with Etsy sellers among the first to offer direct in chat purchases. Broader access is expected as Shopify and payment providers expand their support. This gives US businesses early exposure to a new type of customer journey, where discovery and conversion happen in a single conversational moment.

For New Zealand businesses, the technology is not yet widely available, but the outlook is positive. Because the Agentic Commerce Protocol is open and globally applicable, international expansion is expected as regulatory, payment and platform support catches up. While no firm dates have been announced, 2026 is widely anticipated as the period when broader global availability, including New Zealand, will begin to take shape.

The really exciting news for business owners is that this opens up a new way to generate sales without relying entirely on paid advertising. Instant Checkout and agentic commerce are designed to remove friction from the buying process and meet customers right at the moment they are ready to act, inside the tools they are already using to research, compare and make decisions.

For businesses that get prepared early, this is a genuine opportunity to stay ahead of the curve. Making sure your website, product structure and data are set up in a way AI systems can understand and trust will be key to being recommended and chosen as this technology becomes more mainstream.

If you are not sure where to start, we can help. Our AI Audit is designed to show you exactly how ready your site and products are for AI driven discovery and instant checkout, and where improvements are needed to capture this opportunity. If you book your AI Audit before 19 January 2026, the investment is $720 + GST. It is a practical, no jargon review that gives you clear direction on what to fix, refine or build next so your business is well positioned for what is coming.