Quick answer
Agentic commerce is commerce in which AI finds and compares products and even completes payment on a person's behalf, and what to prepare now is structured, consistent product information. OpenAI has released the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) and Instant Checkout in ChatGPT (announced in September 2025), and Google has released the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP, announced in January 2026). As of writing (October 2026), both features are US-centered, and availability in Korea has not been confirmed.
Key takeaways
- In agentic commerce, AI carries out purchase tasks on a person's behalf.
- OpenAI announced Instant Checkout for the US on September 29, 2025.
- Google's UCP is an open standard announced on January 11, 2026.
- Under both ACP and UCP, the seller remains the merchant of record.
- For availability in Korea, check each company's official announcements.
How is agentic commerce different from conventional online shopping?
Agentic commerce differs in that AI carries out, on a person's behalf, the searching, comparing and paying that people used to do themselves. Google describes agentic commerce as AI completing tasks on a person's behalf.
The leading example is Instant Checkout, announced on September 29, 2025 by OpenAI, the US AI company behind the conversational AI service ChatGPT. ChatGPT users in the US (Plus, Pro and Free) became able to buy products from US Etsy sellers directly within the conversation, and OpenAI said that more than 1 million Shopify merchants would be added soon. At the time of the announcement, only single-item purchases were supported.
| Item | Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) | Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) |
|---|---|---|
| Led by | OpenAI (co-developed with Stripe) | |
| Announced | Instant Checkout was announced on September 29, 2025 | January 11, 2026 |
| Developed with | Stripe | Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart and others |
| Where it is used | Instant Checkout in ChatGPT | Checkout in AI Mode in Google Search and in the Gemini app |
| Nature | Open-source open standard (Apache 2.0 license) | Open standard that uses existing Merchant Center product feeds |
| Merchant of record | The seller | The seller |
What are OpenAI's ACP and Google's UCP?
The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is an open standard for AI commerce that OpenAI developed with the payments company Stripe and released as open source, and the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open standard for agentic commerce that Google announced on January 11, 2026.
ACP was released under the Apache 2.0 license and powers Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. Google developed UCP together with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart and others, and more than 20 organizations, including Mastercard, Visa and Stripe, endorsed it. Google said that UCP will first be used for checkout on products from eligible US retailers in AI Mode in Google Search (its conversational AI search feature) and in the app for Gemini (Google's generative AI service).
In the same announcement, Google also introduced Business Agent, which lets people chat with brands in Search, and dozens of new data attributes in Merchant Center for discovery in conversational commerce.
Are ChatGPT's product results ads?
OpenAI says that ChatGPT's product results for shopping questions are organic results, not ads, and are ranked only by relevance to the user.
According to OpenAI, merchants pay a small fee on completed purchases, but whether a product supports Instant Checkout is not a factor that earns preferential treatment in product results. When several merchants sell the same product, OpenAI says it considers factors such as availability, price, quality, whether the merchant is the primary seller, and whether Instant Checkout is enabled. These criteria come from OpenAI's announcement and may change.
How does DEPT see the changes in agentic commerce?
DEPT, a global digital agency, holds that the change on the product discovery side is already under way, while the change on the transaction side will take longer because of trust, liability and payment issues.
According to DEPT insights (October 2025 and January 2026), AI does not click through on-screen carousels; it interprets structured product data. DEPT therefore recommends having taxonomy, attribute and variant (option) information and fields such as dimensions, materials, inventory, shipping and returns in machine-readable form.
In the interpretation of StoneParty&Corp, a marketing agency, even before AI checkout features are available in Korea, the discovery stage in which AI finds and compares products overlaps with the work of generative engine optimization (GEO). That is because having products and brands accurately understood and mentioned in generative AI answers comes first.
What should businesses in Korea prepare now?
What businesses in Korea can prepare now is structured, consistent product information. As of writing (October 2026), Instant Checkout and UCP checkout are US-centered, so getting product data in order comes before payment integration.
StoneParty&Corp sees getting product information in order as an extension of designing a data environment in which search engines and AI accurately understand product and brand information. The items to check are listed below.
- Organize product names, categories, attributes and option information as text and data fields
- Keep dimensions, materials, inventory, shipping and returns information up to date
- Make product information match across your own store, online marketplaces and official channels
- Check official announcements from OpenAI and Google for availability in Korea
Frequently asked questions
Can I use ChatGPT Instant Checkout or UCP checkout in Korea?
As of writing (October 2026), both features are offered mainly in the US, and whether and when they will be available in Korea has not been confirmed. Countries and conditions may change, so check each company's official announcements for availability in Korea.
If AI handles the payment, who handles order fulfillment and returns?
Under both ACP and UCP, the seller remains the merchant of record. OpenAI explains that under ACP the merchant directly handles the customer relationship, order fulfillment, returns and customer support.
Will GEO matter less as agentic commerce spreads?
That is hard to conclude. DEPT describes GEO as an issue that spans content, product data and brand authority together. In StoneParty&Corp's interpretation, the basic work of making products understandable to AI may become more important at the discovery stage.
Key entities in this article
- StoneParty&Corp ( Organization )
- An AI data-driven marketing agency in Seoul that designs SEO, AEO and GEO as one structure. It is the brand agency division of DEKAM Inc. and the operator of this site. Official source: StoneParty&Corp
- DEPT ( Organization )
- A global digital agency founded in Amsterdam that publishes technology and marketing insights on its website. Official source: DEPT
- Agentic commerce ( Concept or service )
- Commerce in which AI agents find, compare and even purchase products on a person's behalf.
- Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) ( Concept or service )
- The open standard for AI commerce co-developed by OpenAI and Stripe, which powers Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. Official source: Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)
- Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) ( Concept or service )
- The open standard for agentic commerce that Google announced in January 2026, co-developed with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart. Official source: Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
- OpenAI ( Organization )
- The US AI company behind ChatGPT, which operates the GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User crawlers. Official source: OpenAI
- ChatGPT ( Concept or service )
- OpenAI's conversational AI service, which includes a search feature that answers with cited web results. Official source: ChatGPT
- Stripe ( Organization )
- The US payments company that co-developed the Agentic Commerce Protocol with OpenAI. Official source: Stripe
- Google ( Organization )
- The company behind Google Search, AI Overviews and AI Mode, which publishes official SEO guidance through Search Central. Official source: Google
- AI Mode ( Concept or service )
- The conversational AI search experience in Google Search for follow-up questions and complex comparisons. Official source: AI Mode
- Gemini ( Concept or service )
- Google's generative AI model family and conversational AI service. Official source: Gemini
- Generative engine optimization (GEO) ( Concept or service )
- The work of making content and brands more visible and more often cited in answers that generative AI builds from multiple sources. Official source: Generative engine optimization (GEO)
Sources
- OpenAI: Buy it in ChatGPT: Instant Checkout and the Agentic Commerce Protocol (2025)
- Google blog: New tech and tools for retailers in an agentic shopping era (2026)
- DEPT: ChatGPT commerce has made its debut: What brands need to know (2025)
- DEPT: How Universal Commerce Protocol will change commerce (2026)