March 25, 2026
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OpenAI Names the Infrastructure Standard for Agentic Commerce
OpenAI this week launched what it is calling the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), framing it as the open infrastructure standard for AI-native commerce in ChatGPT. The announcement came alongside a significant upgrade to ChatGPT’s shopping experience, offering users richer, more visual product discovery, side-by-side product comparisons, image-based search, and conversational refinement of results.
The company described the initiative as moving shopping “from a fragmented, time-consuming process into a single, seamless experience,” with products surfaced based on shopper preferences and past interactions. The updated experience is rolling out this week to all ChatGPT free, Go, Plus, and Pro users in the United States.
Already integrated into ACP for discovery are Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Lowe’s, Best Buy, The Home Depot, and Wayfair. Shopify merchants are automatically included through the existing Shopify Catalog, requiring no additional action from individual sellers.
Walmart Goes Deeper With a Full In-ChatGPT App
Among early participants, Walmart has taken the most expansive position. Rather than simply feeding a product catalog into ChatGPT’s search results, Walmart has launched a dedicated in-ChatGPT app experience that supports account linking, loyalty program integration, and Walmart Payments, taking users from discovery directly into a Walmart-branded environment.
“By partnering closely with OpenAI, we’ve been able to learn together as we move quickly to shape what agentic commerce can become,” said Daniel Danker, EVP, AI Acceleration, Product and Design at Walmart. The experience is currently available on web browsers, with iOS and Android access to follow.
On the merchant side, OpenAI stepped back from its initial Instant Checkout model, acknowledging it did not offer the flexibility merchants required. Instead, the company is allowing merchants to use their own checkout experiences while focusing investment on product discovery. Merchants interested in deeper integrations can apply through a merchant form; OpenAI noted it is onboarding on a rolling basis, with Etsy and Shopify sellers already live.
The Protocol Question
The deliberate choice to name this infrastructure layer a “protocol” rather than a feature or a platform has drawn attention from retail strategists. In the history of technology, protocol control has consistently translated into structural power: Whoever defines the rules of interoperability shapes who participates, on what terms, and at what cost. ACP is currently U.S.-only, though OpenAI has signaled intent to expand geographies.
Yet the protocol framing raises a more fundamental question about whose interests the agent actually serves. ACP is described as matching products to “shopper preferences and past interactions,” but the architecture is platform-hosted. OpenAI controls what surfaces, how it surfaces, and on what terms merchants participate. That is the structure of a platform-controlled agent, one optimizing within OpenAI’s ecosystem, not a consumer-controlled agent working independently on a shopper’s behalf.
Walmart’s deeper integration may be the most instructive signal. By building a full in-ChatGPT app with account linking, loyalty, and its own payments experience, Walmart is not simply feeding a catalog into someone else’s system. It is negotiating a presence layer, seeking to retain the customer relationship even inside OpenAI’s environment. Whether that constitutes meaningful consumer agency or a more sophisticated form of platform capture is a question the industry has yet to seriously debate.
The announcement arrives as Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), launched in January at NRF in partnership with Walmart, Shopify, Etsy, and Target, is also competing to become the dominant connectivity standard for agent-led commerce.
BrainTrust
Mohamed Amer, PhD
Strategy Advisor, CEO & Co-Founder, BridgeCommAI
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
For retailers not yet in ACP or UCP, has the question shifted from whether to join to whether they still have leverage to negotiate terms?
When an AI agent controls product discovery, who does it actually work for: the shopper, the retailer, or the platform hosting it?
Poll
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AI agents will never control all of discovery in retail. Why? Because so much discovery is done in person. Consumers value that form of inspiration. Equally, a lot of discovery is made on alternative channels, like TikTok Shop or Amazon, so AI will only ever be one piece of the pie. That said, AI will become a bigger slice of the pie so retailers need to ensure they are showing up in those spaces.
Neil, no argument there. In-store discovery and social commerce are real and durable. The article is not suggesting agents take over all discovery. The strategic point is narrower: for the portion of discovery that does migrate to AI agents, the protocol layer will determine who controls it and on what terms. That slice is growing fast enough to warrant attention now, even if it never becomes the whole pie.
The emergence of standards like ACP and UCP suggests that the conversation is indeed shifting—from whether retailers should participate to how they participate while preserving strategic control. Retailers increasingly recognize that agentic commerce is not a distant concept but an evolving reality that will influence product discovery, comparison, and purchase decisions. However, that does not mean retailers are willing to surrender leverage. In fact, many are already signaling that participation will depend on maintaining ownership of the customer relationship, the checkout experience, and ultimately the fulfillment of the purchase. Those elements remain core to brand differentiation, loyalty, and long-term economics.
This is where the question of who AI agents actually work for becomes particularly important. In theory, agentic systems are designed to work for the shopper—optimizing convenience, comparison, and outcomes. In practice, however, there are competing interests. Platforms hosting the agents may prioritize monetization or preferred partners, while retailers want to protect their brand, pricing, and customer data. The result is likely to be a negotiated ecosystem, where retailers participate in agent-driven discovery but insist on directing the transaction back into their own environments.
Ultimately, retailers are unlikely to relinquish the parts of the shopping journey that define their relationship with customers. Discovery may increasingly happen through AI agents, but checkout, fulfillment, and post-purchase engagement are where retailers create value and loyalty. As a result, participation in emerging standards like ACP or UCP will likely hinge on whether those frameworks allow retailers to maintain control over these critical touchpoints.
Scott, the “negotiated ecosystem” framing is fair, and Walmart’s approach is the best current evidence of a retailer negotiating rather than simply complying. The harder question is whether mid-tier retailers without Walmart’s scale have comparable leverage to negotiate those same protections. For many, the terms may arrive largely pre-set.
Julie Averill has an excellent column in Forbes on this topic. Scott is correct…retailers can lose strategic control and should monitor carefully, and participate where possible.
Cathy, will look up Julie’s column. Thank you for the pointer. Scott’s point on strategic control is well taken. The checkout and post-purchase touchpoints are where retailer leverage is most defensible, and protecting those within any protocol partnership is non-negotiable.
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AI agents will never control all of discovery in retail. Why? Because so much discovery is done in person. Consumers value that form of inspiration. Equally, a lot of discovery is made on alternative channels, like TikTok Shop or Amazon, so AI will only ever be one piece of the pie. That said, AI will become a bigger slice of the pie so retailers need to ensure they are showing up in those spaces.
Neil, no argument there. In-store discovery and social commerce are real and durable. The article is not suggesting agents take over all discovery. The strategic point is narrower: for the portion of discovery that does migrate to AI agents, the protocol layer will determine who controls it and on what terms. That slice is growing fast enough to warrant attention now, even if it never becomes the whole pie.
The emergence of standards like ACP and UCP suggests that the conversation is indeed shifting—from whether retailers should participate to how they participate while preserving strategic control. Retailers increasingly recognize that agentic commerce is not a distant concept but an evolving reality that will influence product discovery, comparison, and purchase decisions. However, that does not mean retailers are willing to surrender leverage. In fact, many are already signaling that participation will depend on maintaining ownership of the customer relationship, the checkout experience, and ultimately the fulfillment of the purchase. Those elements remain core to brand differentiation, loyalty, and long-term economics.
This is where the question of who AI agents actually work for becomes particularly important. In theory, agentic systems are designed to work for the shopper—optimizing convenience, comparison, and outcomes. In practice, however, there are competing interests. Platforms hosting the agents may prioritize monetization or preferred partners, while retailers want to protect their brand, pricing, and customer data. The result is likely to be a negotiated ecosystem, where retailers participate in agent-driven discovery but insist on directing the transaction back into their own environments.
Ultimately, retailers are unlikely to relinquish the parts of the shopping journey that define their relationship with customers. Discovery may increasingly happen through AI agents, but checkout, fulfillment, and post-purchase engagement are where retailers create value and loyalty. As a result, participation in emerging standards like ACP or UCP will likely hinge on whether those frameworks allow retailers to maintain control over these critical touchpoints.
Scott, the “negotiated ecosystem” framing is fair, and Walmart’s approach is the best current evidence of a retailer negotiating rather than simply complying. The harder question is whether mid-tier retailers without Walmart’s scale have comparable leverage to negotiate those same protections. For many, the terms may arrive largely pre-set.
Julie Averill has an excellent column in Forbes on this topic. Scott is correct…retailers can lose strategic control and should monitor carefully, and participate where possible.
Cathy, will look up Julie’s column. Thank you for the pointer. Scott’s point on strategic control is well taken. The checkout and post-purchase touchpoints are where retailer leverage is most defensible, and protecting those within any protocol partnership is non-negotiable.