Shopping Inside ChatGPT: The New Walmart’s Instant Checkout

Imagine you’re chatting with an AI to plan your weekly meals. You get a great list of recipes, and right there, you can buy the pantry items you pick one at a time without leaving the chat, with multi-item carts on the way. This isn’t science fiction anymore.

Walmart announced on October 14, 2025, that it’s bringing a Walmart and Sam’s Club selection (including marketplace items), with fresh groceries excluded at launch, into ChatGPT, allowing you to shop and buy without ever leaving the conversation. But how does this really work? Can you trust an AI with your shopping? What can you actually buy, and is it as easy as it sounds?

The Key Takeaways

• Walmart and Sam’s Club are rolling out a feature to shop directly inside ChatGPT, joining other brands in a push for in-chat purchasing later this fall.
• The system uses a new “Instant Checkout” button, powered by Stripe, so you can buy items without being redirected to another site.
• For now, this feature is only available in the U.S. and is limited to buying one item at a time, but multi-item carts are planned.
• Pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link, or card, handled by Stripe via tokenized checkout; ChatGPT never sees your card number.
• If an item isn’t enabled for Instant Checkout, ChatGPT will link you to the merchant’s site to finish checkout.

How the Instant Checkout Works

The process is designed to be incredibly simple, aiming for a true one-tap checkout experience. When you ask ChatGPT for a product and it finds a match from a partner store, you can click into the product to find a “Buy” button. Tapping it opens an embedded checkout window directly within the chat interface.

You don’t get sent to Walmart’s website; the entire transaction happens on the same screen. OpenAI isn’t the merchant of record. Your order is with Walmart (or the seller shown), who handles shipping, customer service, and returns.

1. Ask for a product: You start by telling ChatGPT what you need, such as, “I need to buy a new yoga mat.”
2. Click a product: In the results, click a product → the detail panel or sidebar shows ‘Buy’ if Instant Checkout is supported.
3. Confirm your details: A checkout window appears where you can confirm your shipping address and payment method. You can use fast payment options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Link. As part of the flow, you can also link your Walmart account so your information is pre-filled.
4. Place your order: With a final tap, your purchase is complete.

After you buy, you’ll get an in-chat checkmark confirmation and an email from the seller. Your past orders can be found in your ChatGPT Settings → Orders. As of end of October 2025, the Instant Checkout platform is a U.S.-only feature for logged-in Free, Plus, and Pro users, with the Walmart integration arriving later this fall.

Walmart and Sam’s Club Join the AI-first Shopping Spree

Walmart’s entry marks a significant moment for AI-first shopping, moving it from a niche concept to a mainstream reality. The integration will feature a Walmart and Sam’s Club selection (including marketplace items), with fresh groceries excluded at launch. This means products from a vast network of third-party sellers will also be available, dramatically expanding variety.

A crucial aspect of this new shopping experience is building user trust. Results are organic and unsponsored; Instant Checkout doesn’t boost ranking. When multiple sellers carry the same item, ChatGPT weighs availability, price, quality, primary seller status, and Instant Checkout availability. There are no extra fees for buyers, and OpenAI’s merchant commission doesn’t affect item prices.

Launch-Day Limitations

While the technology is impressive, it’s important to understand its current limitations. The experience is streamlined for simple purchases but hasn’t yet evolved to handle complex shopping trips.

• U.S.-Only: Access is limited to users within the United States.
• Single-Item Checkout: You can only purchase one item per transaction.
• Fresh Groceries Excluded: While shelf-stable groceries are included, fresh items are not available at launch.
• Eligible Listings Only: The ‘Buy’ button will only appear on listings that are eligible for Instant Checkout.
• Carts & Regions Coming Later: Multi-item carts and international availability are planned for future updates.

The platform is rolling out features progressively. While the foundational Instant Checkout system is active in the U.S. with early partners like Etsy, major additions like the Walmart integration and essential features like multi-item shopping carts are slated for the near future, transforming the experience from a novelty into a robust shopping tool.

Is It Safe? The Tech Behind the Scenes

This new shopping method is a form of agentic commerce, where an AI acts as a personal assistant. The system is built on modern payment technology designed to protect your sensitive information. Payment flows directly from you to the merchant, not through OpenAI.

Your financial data is protected through tokenization. Stripe issues a Shared Payment Token so merchants can charge your order without seeing your card; ChatGPT never receives your card number.

The interaction is governed by a new technical framework called the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). Most importantly, even though the purchase starts in a chat, Walmart remains the official seller responsible for getting your order to you and handling any issues.

The Growing Ecosystem of ChatGPT Apps

Walmart is a massive addition, but it’s joining a rapidly expanding ecosystem of brands integrating directly into ChatGPT. This isn’t just a one-off experiment; it’s a strategic move by OpenAI to transform its chatbot into a platform where users can take real-world actions. 

The Etsy ChatGPT checkout is already live for U.S. users, and a highly anticipated Shopify ChatGPT integration is on the way, promising to bring thousands of independent online stores into the conversational commerce fold.

This growing network includes a diverse range of companies, spanning from retail and e-commerce to services and business platforms:

• Retail and Direct-to-Consumer Brands: Beyond Etsy and Walmart, a Target ChatGPT app is in development. The Shopify integration will also enable shopping from popular brands like Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx, and Vuori directly in the chat.
• Food and Ride Services: Soon you’ll be able to order groceries through the Instacart ChatGPT app or a meal from DoorDash. The Uber ChatGPT app will also allow you to book rides without leaving the conversation.
• Business and Enterprise Tools: The trend extends to the B2B world with platforms like Salesforce Agentforce Commerce, which is creating tools for its business clients to enable instant checkout within ChatGPT.

This expansion signals a clear shift in how we might interact with online services in the near future. Instead of juggling dozens of different apps for shopping, booking, and ordering, the goal is to create a central hub where a single conversation can manage multiple tasks. ChatGPT is evolving from a tool that just provides information into an active digital assistant that can execute commands on your behalf.

FAQ

1. Is ChatGPT checkout safe?

Yes. It is handled by Stripe and uses tokenized payments, so your actual credit card number is never shared with OpenAI, and the merchant only receives a secure token. This focus on compliance & privacy ensures your financial data is protected.

2. Why can’t I find these features? Is it available everywhere?

Apps in ChatGPT are available to logged-in users outside the EEA/Switzerland/UK; Instant Checkout itself is U.S-only for now.

3. Will I be charged extra fees for buying in ChatGPT?

No. OpenAI has stated that there are no extra checkout fees for users. The price you see is set by the merchant.

4. Who handles my order and returns if I buy something?

The merchant is responsible for everything after you place the order, including shipping, customer service, and returns.

Conclusión

The line between conversation and commerce just vanished. Walmart’s arrival in ChatGPT isn’t just another feature; it’s a landmark shift that transforms the world’s biggest chatbot into a functional storefront. This is the dawn of true agentic commerce, where your AI doesn’t just find what you need, it acts on your behalf to get it.

While today’s experience is a starting point, focused on simple, single-item checkouts, the secure and robust foundation is already in place. Forget switching between apps and navigating clunky websites. As more retail giants join and crucial features like multi-item carts roll out, we’re looking at the future of retail: a seamless, intuitive, and powerful new way to shop, all from a single chat window.