Stripe-OpenAI Pact Reimagines E-commerce with ChatGPT-Powered Etsy Shopping

TradingKey - Payment tech giant Stripe and AI leader OpenAI jointly announced on Monday the official launch of "Instant Checkout" feature based on ChatGPT. This feature is first implemented on the handicraft e-commerce platform Etsy, allowing users to complete the entire shopping process without leaving the conversation interface.

According to the partnership details, Stripe will provide the core payment processing technology for this feature. The new feature will initially enable ChatGPT users in the United States to directly purchase goods from domestic sellers on the Etsy handicraft e-commerce platform, with plans to soon expand to merchants on the Shopify e-commerce service platform.

"Stripe has spent the last 15 years optimizing commerce for human buyers. Now, we are starting to do the same for agents,” says Kevin Miller, head of payments, Stripe.

Stripe, with its flexible and powerful online payment solutions, has become the preferred payment partner for numerous Etsy sellers, enabling them to expand payment channels and optimize transaction experiences, in recent years. This collaboration further deepens their ecosystem connection.

Boosted by this news, Etsy's stock surged nearly 16% in a single day, marking the largest single-day gain since early 2022, while e-commerce platform Shopify's stock also rose more than 6%.

Users can request product recommendations through conversations with ChatGPT, and when deciding to purchase, the checkout process supported by Stripe will be directly embedded within the chat interface, requiring just a few taps to complete payment.

In a blog post, OpenAI stated: "This marks the next step in agentic commerce, where ChatGPT doesn't just help you find what to buy, it also helps you buy it.

This collaboration also poses a potential challenge to tech giants like Google and Amazon. As AI tools like ChatGPT reshape search and e-commerce experiences, users are beginning to use them as personal shopping assistants or even delegate shopping to them, putting traditional giants' core business models at risk of disruption.

Simultaneously, for online merchants, selling through AI agents also brings new considerations, as merchants worry about potentially losing direct connections with shoppers who might have otherwise visited their official websites.

“The merchant gets the sale, that’s the benefit, but they lose the [customer] loyalty,” said Emily Pfeiffer, a principal analyst focused on commerce at IT research and consulting firm Forrester. “A lot of retailers and brands are just very nervous because this is all moving super quickly.”

In response, OpenAI's Fradin stated that this threat won't become reality, “ChatGPT serves a very different purpose than a merchant’s website,” She emphasized that the new feature provides merchants with a new channel to reach hundreds of millions of users, rather than replacing their own platforms.