At some point in the last several months, a phrase started circulating in brand operator circles: "You need to get on ChatGPT." It sounds simple. It implies there's a lever to pull, a form to submit, a switch to flip.
There isn't — at least not one lever that covers everything. "Being on ChatGPT" can mean three different things, and they work through entirely different mechanisms.
The two things happening inside ChatGPT
Shopping research is the organic, crawl-informed experience. A user types a question and ChatGPT synthesises information from across the web. You cannot submit your brand to appear here.
Instant Checkout is entirely different. This is the transactional layer built on OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). To enable Instant Checkout, merchants apply to an approved partner program. Crucially, OpenAI states that enabling Instant Checkout does not influence ChatGPT's product recommendations.
How Perplexity works differently
Perplexity's approach is architecturally different. Its core model is crawl-based: Perplexity indexes the broader web. Perplexity also runs a Merchant Program, which is free to join and allows brands to submit structured product data directly.
What Google AI Overviews actually does
Google AI Overviews is not a separate platform you join. It is a feature layered on top of Google's existing Search and Shopping Graph infrastructure. If your products are already in Merchant Center with a clean, complete feed, they are eligible to appear.
The misconception that costs brands time
The most common error is assuming that completing one submission covers all AI platforms. It does not. Each channel has its own logic.
