The news: Synchrony will launch a plugin that shows shoppers promotional financing and deals from participating merchants within ChatGPT sessions, per a press release.

ChatGPT plugin users will receive offers through Synchrony’s Marketplace. 

How we got here: Payment providers are gearing up for a shift in how consumers research products and shop. 

• More than half of US internet users will use AI chatbots by next year, per our forecast. 
• Shopping and personalized recommendations are two of the fastest-growing use cases among US genAI users.

Why this matters: Synchrony is trying to become a first mover as AI and agentic commerce gradually reshape the ecommerce journey. 

Synchrony is also trying to establish itself as a consumer-facing brand in its own right rather than a behind-the-scenes partner for co-brand retailers. Increasing its brand awareness enough to get consumers to search for and add its plug-in could be a challenge when they’re likely more familiar with Synchrony’s retail partners.

Implications for payment providers: Integrations with popular genAI platforms like ChatGPT could be a huge boost to brands trying to score the first windfalls of AI-powered and agentic commerce—or trying to expand their financial media networks into new formats. 

However, genAI plugins are clumsier to use than their traditional web browser equivalents. Conversational commerce users have to activate the plugin through a specific prompt each time they want to look for deals—and then are taken off the platform to complete a purchase on the retailer’s site. Until the AI shopping user experience  improves through things like always-active background features, payment volume delivered via plugin will likely be minimal.

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