A shopping function has been integrated into Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant. A new tool called Copilot Checkout allows customers to make purchases directly within the chat interface, eliminating the need to visit a different retailer’s website. The feature was showcased at the NRF 2026 retail conference and is currently being made available to US users.
How does the new Copilot shopping feature work?
The main point of this update is to make it easier to buy things online. People can now finish their purchases in the same window when they ask Copilot for product recommendations or help with shopping. You can check out without leaving the site, saving you time and making it easier to buy.
Microsoft has worked with big online stores like Shopify, Stripe, and Etsy to make this service possible. Some of the stores that are taking part in the launch are Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Ashley Furniture.
The retailers are still the official sellers, though, and they still have access to customer data, order fulfillment, and customer service. Microsoft is responsible for making sure the payment bridge and the conversation interface work.
Microsoft’s choice to do these tasks comes after other companies, such as OpenAI, have looked into AI in similar ways. OpenAI is making its own shopping assistant that uses AI, for instance. But it’s a known technical problem for these kinds of tools to get accurate, up-to-date product information from many different stores.
Such issues can sometimes change things like price or availability. Microsoft’s Copilot Checkout is designed to make the process as straightforward as possible, but they are still working on making sure that transactions are accurate and reliable over time in an AI chat setting.
The idea of automated or one-click buying isn’t new; for example, there have been buttons on hardware for reordering staples in the past. Copilot is new because it adds this feature to an AI that can talk and do many other things.
People will only use this feature when it is available if it is easy to use and offers the same level of security and accuracy that consumers expect from regular e-commerce sites.
