Etsy, Shopify Products Can Now be Bought Directly From ChatGPT

Key Takeaways

• OpenAI has partnered with Etsy and Shopify for Instant Checkout
• Buyers can make payments on ChatGPT without having to search on the online store
• The fulfillment and delivery will all be taken care of by the seller themselves. 

In a recent groundbreaking development in the world of eCommerce and Artificial Intelligence (AI), OpenAI has partnered with Etsy and Shopify. This partnership will allow the AI chatbot to provide consumers with solutions to their day-to-day queries while giving them a chance to buy relevant products listed on Etsy and Shopify. So, basically, when a customer asks the AI to recommend some clothes or gifts for friends, it will actually pull up products from Etsy and the Shopify Store and let you buy them with a complete checkout process so you do not even have to visit the online store. 

OpenAI’s Announcement 

The announcement from OpenAI was dropped, highlighting its usage by more than 700 million people on a daily basis, who seek help from the bot to solve their issues. With this, came the announcement saying, “U.S. ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Free users can now buy directly from U.S. Etsy sellers right in chat, with over a million Shopify merchants, like Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx and Vuori, coming soon. Today, Instant Checkout supports single-item purchases.” The announcement further revealed OpenAI’s intent to add multiple-item carts to ease the purchase process and expand the same to more merchants and regions for wider reach. 

How Does this Work? 

This initiative is a development into online buyers’ desire to buy instantly without having to search and compare on multiple platforms. Here’s how it is supposed to work: 

• Customers can come up to the ChatGPT AI bot for queries like “best running shoes under $100” or “gifts for a ceramics lover”. 
• Now, the AI bot will go through the database and search the products of Shopify and Etsy online stores to find out what matches the best with the query purely on the basis of relevance. 
• Then, if Instant Checkout is supported by the product, then consumers can click on ‘Buy’to confirm their order, shipping, and payment details to complete the purchase without having to visit the online shopping platforms. “Existing ChatGPT subscribers can pay with their card on file, or other cards and express payment options,” says OpenAI
• The merchant uses their own systems to handle orders, payments, and fulfillment. Like a digital personal shopper, ChatGPT only serves as the user's AI agent, securely transmitting information between the user and the business.
• The service is free for consumers, has no bearing on their prices, and has no effect on ChatGPT's product results. Merchants pay a little fee on completed purchases. In product results, products from Instant Checkout are not recommended. In order to maximize the user experience, ChatGPT ranks several merchants that sell the same product based on criteria including availability, price, quality, whether a merchant is a major seller, and whether Instant Checkout is enabled.

Answer to Security Concerns 

Given ChatGPT AI is involved in this process, consumers are concerned about the trust and credibility factors of the process. Here’s how safety is ensured: 

• Users are informed, and they get to explicitly confirm each step before any action is taken. 
• The payment is the biggest concern, and the entire payment section is secure and encrypted. 
• There is very little data sharing; just the information needed to finish the order is given to the merchant with the user's consent.

Online Shopping Gets AI Support 

Shopify and Etsy sellers can enable the latest feature on their selling platforms and gain more reach, along with a higher conversion rate. This will not just simplify the buying process for consumers but also foster higher revenue generation for sellers with the right strategy and software integration. The update might be daunting, but it is not impossible to incorporate into the business. This is going to be a great update that is only going to get bigger and better with time.