This week, OpenAI launched something called Instant Checkout inside ChatGPT, built on their new Agentic Commerce Protocol and powered by Stripe. (Annabel introduced this here).
What does that mean in practice? A user can ask ChatGPT for a product, receive a recommendation, and complete the payment — all inside the conversation. No checkout pages. No forms. No redirect to a website.
This is a landmark moment. For months we’ve talked about agentic commerce as an idea — at our Advantage:AI events we’ve done plenty of future-gazing, speculating about where this might go. But now it’s happening in front of us. The line between conversation and transaction is being erased.
And this is just the start. OpenAI has said that multi-item baskets, wider merchant integrations, and international rollout are coming. More importantly, the Agentic Commerce Protocol is open source. That means businesses of all sizes can begin experimenting with these flows right now.
This is why I wanted to write this piece. Because the conversation has shifted: we’re no longer asking if this will matter. We’re asking what it means for us, today.
For most of my career, when an e-commerce business asked, “Where should we focus?” the answer was simple: your website.
Build it, optimise it, integrate it with Worldpay, Stripe or PayPal, and drive traffic. That formula worked. Many of our clients scaled with the website at the heart of everything.
But I think we can all feel the change: the website is no longer the only door customers want to walk through.
People increasingly want to interact more directly. They want to ask a question, share a photo, or speak to a device — and get the answer right there and then. No forms. No menus. No hunting through carefully curated pages.
That’s what agentic commerce is really about: shifting the point of transaction from the page to the conversation.
So, what do we mean when we talk about the “agentic company”? It sounds technical, but it’s simple: it’s a business that lets software agents (like ChatGPT, and the services that follow it) actually do things for customers.
That means:
Recommending the right product based on what a user describes or shows
Taking payment directly inside the conversation (via Stripe, PayPal, or another provider)
Checking stock, suggesting alternatives, applying promotions
Handling returns, tracking, and updates without leaving the thread
And because it’s conversational, it produces a stream of useful data: what people ask before buying, where they hesitate, what convinces them. That’s gold dust you’d never get from a simple checkout flow.
One of our clients sells car touch-up paints. If you’ve ever tried to match paint to a scratch, you’ll know how tricky it is. Customers often email or message with photos, asking which product to use and how to apply it. It’s valuable service — but also labour-intensive.
Now imagine that same interaction powered by an AI agent. The customer uploads a photo, the system analyses it, recommends the right product, and even provides step-by-step application guidance.
The result? The customer gets confidence instantly. The team saves time. The business gains insight into how products are used in the real world.
That’s not about replacing people. It’s about using technology to remove friction and let humans focus on the cases where they add the most value.
The noise is about Agentic Commerce – but this isn’t just about e-commerce. Another of our clients is a large regional law firm. Their website is extensive, covering dozens of private and commercial services. But when someone has a legal issue, they don’t want to browse categories. They want to describe their problem and be directed to the right help.
At the moment, that often means filling out forms or using chat widgets. But in the near future, that first step is far more likely to be conversational.
A prospective client will explain their issue in plain English. An assistant — whether chat, voice, or device-based — will triage it, validate key details, and pass it directly into the firm’s CRM as a structured enquiry.
The website still matters. But it’s no longer the front door. The conversation is.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: these first engagements are starting to happen in environments you don’t control.
If a user asks a question in ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, the AI will be the one to decide which product, service, or provider to recommend first. Your beautifully designed website pages may never come into play.
That’s a double-edged sword.
If you’re integrated, you gain new visibility and opportunities.
If you’re not, you may be invisible at the very point where decisions are made.
That’s why the concept of the agentic company matters. It’s about making sure your business is part of that first conversation.
So what does this mean for e-commerce businesses today?
First, don’t panic. And don’t buy into hype. Instead, treat this as a shared learning journey. Nobody — not even the big players — has every answer right now.
What matters is beginning to explore:
Map friction points: Where do customers get stuck or hesitate in your current journey?
Pilot conversational use cases: Start small — maybe a chat that helps with delivery queries or size recommendations.
Capture and learn: Record what customers ask and feed that back into your product, messaging, and service.
The pace of change means standing still isn’t an option. But the path forward doesn’t need to be overwhelming.
This shift won’t arrive overnight. It will creep in. First, a few competitors will launch simple conversational journeys. Customers will like it. Then, gradually, it will become the expectation.
If you only start thinking about it in two years, you’ll be two years behind. But if you begin exploring now — even modestly — you’ll be ready when the expectation flips.
As an agency leader, I want to be clear: we don’t pretend to have all the answers. Nobody does. But we do have experience across different sectors, a close eye on the technology, and — maybe most importantly — the curiosity to help businesses figure it out in practice.
The lack of knowledge in the market isn’t surprising. These tools are new, fast-moving, and sometimes overwhelming. But that’s why the best way forward is to research, test, and learn together.
If you’d like to start that conversation, I’d love to talk. We can look at your customer journeys, explore which pilots make sense, and build a roadmap that keeps you ahead of the curve.
The agentic company isn’t just a theory anymore. OpenAI’s Instant Checkout shows it’s real. It’s the next room your customers are already stepping into. Let’s make sure you’re there, ready to meet them.
Door4 opinions and insight - our articles features and ramblings.
We explore performance marketing, AI, communications and optimisation.
