Agentic Commerce in 2026: How to Sell on ChatGPT and Google AI Mode

Key takeaways

• As of November 9, 2026, OpenAI says shopping in ChatGPT is live for US users only, purchases are completed on the merchant's own website or app, and there are no fees on purchases that start in ChatGPT.
• Google's Merchant Center Help says UCP-powered checkout in AI Mode and the Gemini app is open to select merchants; it began rolling out to Canadian shoppers on November 4, 2026; Google announced Australia in June 2026, with the UK to follow later.
• Shopify's guide, updated June 18, 2026, says any Shopify Catalog merchant selling to US buyers reaches ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot regardless of store location, with no transaction fees beyond standard processing rates.
• OpenAI's product feed spec requires nine fields for every item or variant (item_id, title, description, url, brand, seller_name, image_url, availability and price), and an empty shipping_price means unknown, not free.
• Adobe measured a 693.4% jump in generative AI traffic to US retail sites from November 1 to December 31, 2025, and in September 2026 forecast a further 130% rise for the 2026 holiday season.

As of November 9, 2026, buying inside an AI assistant works mostly for US shoppers and only at some stores. ChatGPT shows products but sends buyers to the merchant's own site or app: OpenAI says it is moving away from a standalone Instant Checkout experience and charges no fees on purchases that start in ChatGPT. Checkout inside the chat exists in Google's AI Mode and the Gemini app, for select merchants with products eligible in the US, Canada and Australia, and in Microsoft Copilot for US buyers. None of these checkouts serves shoppers in the UAE yet.

This guide is for owners and marketers of Shopify and custom stores selling to the US or the UAE: where each assistant stands, what a UAE store can do, what your store needs and how to measure it. GEO basics are in our guide to generative engine optimization and GEO and AEO glossary, so we skip them here.

What is agentic commerce?

Agentic commerce is shopping where an AI assistant does part of the shopper's work: it finds products, compares them and sometimes places the order. As of November 2026 it takes four forms:

• Discovery. The assistant shows your products and links to your site, as ChatGPT does now.
• Your checkout inside the assistant. The shopper pays on your checkout page, opened in the chat app. Shopify stores get this in ChatGPT.
• Checkout in the chat. The shopper pays inside the assistant, and you stay the seller of record. Google AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity offer this with some merchants.
• Buying for the shopper. Amazon's Buy for Me places the order on another store's website.

Two open protocols sit underneath. Stripe and OpenAI introduced the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) on September 29, 2025. Google announced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) on January 11, 2026, co-developed with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart. Most stores won't implement either by hand: platforms and payment providers connect them.

How much shopping traffic comes from AI assistants?

It is growing fast. Adobe found that traffic from generative AI tools to US retail sites rose 693.4% year over year from November 1 to December 31, 2025. In September 2026, Adobe forecast a further 130% rise this holiday season, measured by shoppers clicking a link. Shopify says AI-driven traffic to its stores grew 8 times year over year in the first quarter of 2026, and orders from AI-powered searches nearly 13 times.

These are growth rates, not shares of sales: a reason to get your catalog in order now, not a forecast for your store.

Can customers buy inside ChatGPT? Instant Checkout and the Agentic Commerce Protocol

Mostly not, as of November 9, 2026. Instant Checkout launched on September 29, 2025, letting US users buy from US-based Etsy sellers without leaving the chat. On March 24, 2026, OpenAI changed course: it said the first version "did not offer the level of flexibility that we aspire to provide" and let merchants use their own checkout, Modern Retail reported.

Today OpenAI's merchant page says shopping is live for ChatGPT users in the US: users discover and evaluate products in ChatGPT, and purchases are completed on merchant-owned websites or apps. On Shopify, the shopper pays on your store's checkout in ChatGPT's in-app browser or, on the web, in a new tab. OpenAI calls in-chat apps optional and best suited for larger merchants, and says ACP covers product discovery today and the full shopping journey over time.

How to get your products into ChatGPT shopping

There are three routes:

1. Sell on Shopify or Etsy. OpenAI says your catalog is already integrated, with no application needed. On Shopify you manage it under Sales channels > Agentic.
2. Send a product feed. Other merchants apply on the merchant page and join a waitlist. Feed onboarding is open to approved partners over SFTP, with a full snapshot recommended at least once a day. OpenAI aims to launch a self-serve merchant portal later this year.
3. Let ChatGPT crawl your site. OpenAI says a feed isn't required but gives you more control over how products appear. Sites that block OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, and robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to apply. The setup is in our GEO guide.

OpenAI's product spec asks for one row per purchasable item or variant, with nine required fields: item_id, title, description, url, brand, seller_name, image_url, availability and price. Check before you apply:

• Each size or color is its own row, linked to the others by group_id.
• A GTIN must be exactly 8, 12, 13 or 14 digits.
• An empty shipping_price means unknown, not free shipping.

OpenAI's prohibited products policy keeps out adult content, age-restricted goods such as alcohol and nicotine, weapons and prescription-only medicines, among others.

How does Google AI Mode shopping work with the Universal Commerce Protocol?

In Google's version the shopper pays with Google Pay inside AI Mode or the Gemini app, and the retailer stays the seller of record. It arrived in steps:

• November 13, 2025. Agentic checkout began rolling out on Search, including AI Mode, with eligible US merchants such as Wayfair, Chewy and Quince. When a tracked item drops within budget, Google can buy it, but only after the shopper confirms the purchase and shipping details.
• January 11, 2026. Google announced UCP to power this checkout for eligible US retailers.
• May 20, 2026. Google said UCP checkout will roll out across Canada and Australia in the coming months, and later to the UK.
• June 17, 2026. Google announced UCP checkout in Australia, its first market in Asia Pacific, with retailers including Kogan, Bunnings, Adore Beauty, Petbarn and The Iconic, Inside Retail reported.
• October 15, 2026. Universal Cart began rolling out in the US across Search and the Gemini app. Shoppers pay with Google Pay right in the cart at many stores, or move the items to the merchant's own cart.
• November 4, 2026. UCP checkout began rolling out in Canada in AI Mode and the Gemini app. Google added that starting next year Canadian merchants will get a simpler UCP integration directly in Merchant Center; in the US, merchants already connect through a UCP integration hub there.

Joining is selective for now. Google's Merchant Center help says checkout is open to select merchants, for products eligible in the United States, Canada and Australia. You fill in an interest form, complete the technical integration, mark products with the native_commerce attribute and set up a Google Pay & Wallet Console account.

You don't need checkout to appear in AI Mode. Google's guide to AI features in Search says Merchant Center feeds and Business Profiles can help products appear in AI responses.

Shopify, Copilot, Perplexity and Amazon: where else can shoppers buy?

Shopify agentic storefronts

Agentic storefronts are on by default for eligible Shopify stores, with a knowledge base for the return and shipping rules agents answer from. Shopify's guide, updated June 18, 2026, says any Shopify Catalog merchant selling to US buyers can reach ChatGPT and Copilot regardless of store location, while AI Mode and Gemini are limited to select US-based shops. In June, purchases on all channels were open to US buyers only, with no transaction fees beyond standard processing rates; since November 4, Google says select Shopify merchants also sell to Canadian shoppers in AI Mode and Gemini. Stores on other platforms can join through Shopify's Agentic plan without moving.

Microsoft Copilot Checkout

Microsoft launched Copilot Checkout on January 8, 2026, on Copilot.com in the US, with PayPal, Shopify and Stripe. The merchant stays the merchant of record. PayPal and Stripe merchants apply; Shopify merchants are enrolled automatically after an opt-out window. Microsoft's agentic commerce page limits it to English-language merchants selling to US buyers in USD, with a Microsoft Merchant Center feed.

Perplexity with PayPal

PayPal and Perplexity launched Instant Buy for US users on November 25, 2025. PayPal's store sync lists merchant catalogs in Perplexity, payments run through your existing PayPal setup, and you stay the merchant of record. That is the status at launch; we could not confirm today's terms, so check with PayPal.

Amazon Buy for Me

Amazon's Shop Direct shows US shoppers products from other brands' websites: over 100 million products from more than 400,000 merchants as of March 11, 2026. For tens of millions of them, Buy for Me lets the shopper confirm on Amazon while Amazon's AI completes the purchase on the merchant's site. The merchant handles delivery, returns and customer service. Feeds come through partners such as Feedonomics and Salsify, and merchants can opt out, so check whether you are already listed.

Where shoppers can pay inside AI assistants. From OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Shopify, PayPal and Amazon pages, checked November 9, 2026.

Can a UAE store sell through ChatGPT or Google AI Mode?

Partly, and only to US buyers. As of November 9, 2026, none of the checkouts above serves shoppers in the UAE.

Selling to US buyers from the UAE. A Dubai store on Shopify can reach ChatGPT and Copilot through Shopify Catalog, which doesn't depend on store location, but not AI Mode checkout, which is limited to select US-based shops. Microsoft takes English-language merchants selling in USD. OpenAI's standard feed upload targets the US.

Selling to buyers in the UAE. There is no checkout in the chat yet, and Google's May 2026 rollout plan named Canada, Australia and the UK, not the Gulf. Discovery works today:

• AI Mode has been available in English across the Middle East and North Africa since August 2025 and in Arabic since October 2025.
• Google's free product listings support the UAE, so a Merchant Center feed is worth having there too.
• ChatGPT search can cite your pages if OAI-SearchBot is allowed, even though its shopping results are US-only.

For payments, Gulf News reported that Mastercard introduced its Agent Pay service in Dubai in November 2025, in a pilot with Majid Al Futtaim and Dataiera. It is a payment rail for agents, not a channel a store can join today. Our UAE page covers how we work there.

What does your store need to sell through AI shopping agents?

Agents read your store from a feed, from your pages and their markup, and, when they act, from the live page. Gaps show up as wrong prices, missing sizes or a checkout the agent can't finish.

What an AI shopping agent needs from your store, and how to check it. From OpenAI's product spec, Google's Search and Merchant Center docs, web.dev and Chrome's Lighthouse docs, checked November 9, 2026.

Markup matters less than many guides claim. Google says structured data isn't required for generative AI search and there's no special markup for it. Product markup still drives Google's merchant listings, which require a name, image, price and currency and recommend GTIN, shipping details, a return policy and ratings. Google can read a store-wide return policy from organization markup, but Merchant Center and Search Console settings override it. More checks are in our SEO and GEO audit checklist.

For agents that operate the page, web.dev recommends real <button> and <a> elements over clickable <div> and <span> elements, a for attribute on every <label>, and a stable layout, since agents working from screenshots get confused when elements move. Chrome's Lighthouse has an agentic browsing category that checks agent-centric accessibility, layout shifts, llms.txt and WebMCP. It is experimental and needs Chrome 150 or later.

Shopify or a custom store: what changes for agentic commerce?

On Shopify the platform does the plumbing: your catalog goes to AI channels by default, and checkout runs through Shopify. Your job is the data. A custom store builds a feed, applies to OpenAI and Google and, for checkout in the chat, implements UCP or goes through PayPal or Stripe. For the wider choice, see Shopify vs custom vs Tilda, and before a move, how to redesign without losing SEO.

We have not built an ACP or UCP integration for a client. What carries over from our store work is the catalog underneath, which is what agents read.

For Esturión de Sarrión, a Spanish sturgeon farm, we built a US store on Shopify with 111 purchase options, from 1 oz of roe to 15 lb of hamachi. Each of the seven house caviars comes in six sizes from 30 g to 1 kg, with ounces and grams on every size. That is the variant structure a feed needs to quote the right size at the right price.

Case study · Esturión de SarriónOnline store for premium caviar, truffles and wagyu45gourmet products, from caviar tins to A5 wagyu

For a top-15 global grocer under NDA, we built a recommendation system over 100,000+ products, with a pipeline that maps recipe ingredients to products and fits amounts to real pack sizes. It runs in the grocer's own store, not in an AI assistant, but the rule is the same: software fills a cart correctly only when size and unit are data, not words in a title.

Recipe to CartClient under NDA

Case study · Under NDARecipe-to-cart recommendations for a top-15 global grocer100K+SKUs in the catalog

For Barber & Co we built two storefronts, for her and for him, on one catalog, so stock and prices never drift apart, and tagged volume and weight on 639 products. An AI feed needs that same single source of truth. Our website service builds stores on Shopify or your own platform, with structured data on every page.

How do you measure sales from ChatGPT and AI Mode?

Visits, orders and visibility show up in different places.

• Visits. Google Analytics 4 has an AI Assistant channel for traffic from ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Copilot and Grok. AI Mode and AI Overviews stay in Organic Search. ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to its links, so any analytics tool can segment it.
• Orders. An order paid inside an assistant never loads your checkout page, so web analytics misses it. Shopify shows channel or referrer attribution for AI orders in the admin; on a custom store, check your payment provider or order system.
• Visibility. Search Console's Generative AI report shows your impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google says it reached all websites worldwide as of August 31, 2026.

Analytics can't see an answer that names you without a click, so ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Mode the same buyer questions every month in a fresh session and log who gets named and linked. Our SEO & GEO audit tool checks your home page and up to 9 more pages the way Google, Bing and AI crawlers see them, including robots.txt rules for each AI bot, CDN challenge pages and structured data errors.

Checklist: getting your store ready for AI shopping agents

1. Know where your buyers are. For US buyers, every channel above matters now. For UAE buyers, work on discovery: AI Mode, ChatGPT search and free listings.
2. Turn on the channels. On Shopify, check Sales channels > Agentic and fill in the knowledge base. On a custom store, apply to OpenAI and Google, and to Microsoft if you sell in USD to US buyers.
3. Fix the feed. Nine required fields, one row per variant, valid GTINs, a daily full snapshot, shipping and returns.
4. Fix product pages. Markup that matches the feed and checkout, plus a return policy Google can read.
5. Open the crawlers. Allow OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Googlebot, with no CDN challenge in their way.
6. Make checkout operable. Real buttons and labels, a stable layout, a keyboard-only test purchase.
7. Measure monthly. GA4's AI Assistant channel, Search Console's Generative AI report and a fixed set of buyer questions.

Our SEO & GEO service covers crawler access, product markup and monthly tracking of AI answers. Our website service builds the store itself, on Shopify or your own platform. To go through your store with a partner, book a call.

Questions we get asked

Can customers buy directly inside ChatGPT?

Not from most stores, as of November 9, 2026. OpenAI says it is moving away from a standalone Instant Checkout experience: shoppers find and compare products in ChatGPT, then pay on the merchant's own website or app. For Shopify stores, that checkout opens in ChatGPT's in-app browser. Instant Checkout launched in September 2025 with US Etsy sellers, and OpenAI changed course in March 2026. Shopping in ChatGPT is live for US users only.

How do I get my products into ChatGPT shopping?

If you sell through Shopify or Etsy, OpenAI says your catalog is already integrated and no application is needed. Other merchants apply on OpenAI's merchant page and join a waitlist, since feed onboarding is open to approved partners. A feed needs nine fields per item or variant, including item_id, title, url, availability and price, and OpenAI recommends a full snapshot at least once a day. Without a feed, ChatGPT can still find your products if robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot.

Can a UAE store sell through ChatGPT or Google AI Mode?

To US buyers, partly. Shopify says any Shopify Catalog merchant selling to US buyers reaches ChatGPT and Copilot regardless of store location, while AI Mode and Gemini checkout is limited to select US-based shops. For shoppers in the UAE, no assistant offers in-chat checkout as of November 9, 2026. What works there is discovery: AI Mode runs in English and Arabic across the Middle East and North Africa, and Google's free product listings support the UAE.

What is the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)?

UCP is an open standard for agentic commerce that Google announced on January 11, 2026, co-developed with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart. It powers checkout with Google Pay in AI Mode and the Gemini app, while the retailer stays the seller of record. To join, you need a Merchant Center feed, the UCP technical integration, the native_commerce attribute, a Google Pay & Wallet Console account and Google's approval: as of November 2026, checkout is open to select merchants only.

Do I need special schema markup for AI shopping agents?

No. Google says structured data isn't required for generative AI search and there is no special schema.org markup to add. Standard Product and Offer markup still matters for Google's merchant listings, which recommend shipping details and a return policy. For returns, settings in Merchant Center take precedence over markup. What agents need most is consistency: the same price, stock and policies in your feed, your markup and your checkout.

How do I track sales from ChatGPT or AI Mode?

Use three sources. Google Analytics 4 groups visits from ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Copilot and Grok in an AI Assistant channel, while AI Mode and AI Overviews stay in Organic Search. ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to its links. Search Console's Generative AI report shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Orders paid inside an assistant never load your checkout page, so on Shopify check the channel or referrer attribution on each order.

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About the author

Artsiom Yankovich

Co-founder, Head of Design & Strategy

Leads design and strategy, from product logic to brand. 9+ years, 150+ projects.

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