ChatGPT hasn’t yet broadly introduced ads into its platform, but the early indications over their efficacy might not be all that positive.
A new report from Wired (paywalled) reveals that Walmart’s experiment with ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout — a feature that let users complete purchases without leaving the chat interface — delivered somewhat disappointing results. Daniel Danker, Walmart’s EVP of Product and Design, said in-chat purchases converted at just one-third the rate of click-out transactions that redirected users to Walmart’s own website. He called the experience “unsatisfying.”
The Experiment
Starting in November, Walmart listed around 200,000 products through OpenAI’s Instant Checkout, powered by Stripe. The premise was straightforward: reduce friction by keeping the buyer inside ChatGPT. The data said otherwise — users who clicked through to Walmart’s site were three times more likely to complete a purchase than those who stayed in the chat.
The finding cuts against a central thesis of agentic commerce: that removing steps from the buying journey automatically improves outcomes. Walmart’s data suggests that owning the checkout environment matters — and that “fewer steps” and “better conversion” are not the same thing.
What’s Changing
The timing also coincides with OpenAI’s own strategic retreat. Earlier this month, OpenAI confirmed it was phasing out Instant Checkout in favor of app-based checkout handled directly by merchants — an acknowledgment that the embedded purchase model wasn’t working as intended.
Walmart’s replacement plan leans into that direction. The retailer will embed its own AI assistant, Sparky, inside ChatGPT. Users will log into Walmart, sync carts across platforms, and complete purchases within Walmart’s own checkout system. A similar integration with Google Gemini is reportedly coming next month — part of a broader industry move toward AI shopping integrations that keep merchants in control of the transaction layer.
What This Means for AI Commerce
The results are an early reality check for the agentic commerce wave. The assumption that AI assistants could become the new storefront — with retailers essentially renting shelf space inside chatbots — now looks up for scrutiny. Walmart’s pivot suggests the smarter play is using AI as a discovery and navigation layer while keeping conversion inside owned environments where trust, UX, and data are fully controlled.
For OpenAI, which is actively exploring monetization avenues beyond subscriptions, this is a notable stumble. If ChatGPT’s shopping integrations can’t demonstrate competitive conversion rates, convincing major retailers to treat it as a commerce channel — rather than just a traffic source — will be a harder sell.