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Key Takeaways Consumers are now using AI tools to research, compare and narrow options before they ever visit a retailer’s website.
Purchase decisions are often being made during the AI conversation itself, not on the checkout page.
Have you noticed how the moment of choice for customers has evolved over the years? Traditionally, the journey began with a Google search, followed by a visit to a retail website where consumers explored products and made purchasing decisions. Today, much of that process is being delegated to artificial intelligence.
Instead of browsing categories, consumers are asking AI models to search, filter, compare and recommend products based on highly specific preferences and past interactions. However, despite this rapid transformation, the AI landscape still faces several challenges and limitations.
In March 2026, OpenAI shut down its ‘Instant Checkout’ feature just six months after launch. Despite Shopify’s vast merchant network, only a dozen businesses went live with the feature. While users research products a lot within ChatGPT, they happen to exit the platform to complete their purchases elsewhere.
Calling this a product failure is a misinterpretation of the data. What OpenAI actually identified is a structural split in the modern buying journey. In this article, I’ll discuss how businesses must restructure their funnels to bridge the gap between AI discovery and the final transaction.
What actually changed in how people buy
According to Adobe Analytics, traffic to US retail sites from generative AI tools grew by nearly 693% during the 2025 holiday season. More importantly, these visitors converted at a rate 31% higher than any other source. This shift is becoming the new standard. Gartner predicts that traditional search engine volume will drop by 25% by the end of 2026 as chatbots replace queries that previously went to Google. People are using AI to research and narrow the options, but they aren’t buying inside the AI, they just use it as a new starting point.
The world’s largest retailers have already begun adapting to this ‘discovery-first’ reality after finding that forcing transactions within AI often backfires. Walmart found that conversion rates inside ChatGPT were three times lower than when users were redirected to Walmart.com.
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