Walmart Helping Shoppers Choose With ChatGPT
The shopping experience could get easier, especially for consumers who do most of their searching at home before even stepping into their Walmart store.
The retailer has partnered with OpenAI to simplify the product discovery process, with the help of ChatGPT. The app offers shoppers an in-ChatGPT experience that takes them from discovery into a tailored Walmart environment, linking their account, loyalty and Walmart payments, according to a March 24 media release from OpenAI.
Currently available in web browsers, app access in iOS and Android will be coming soon.
To power this, OpenAI said it is expanding the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to ease the product-discovery process for consumers, and to offer more complete, relevant and up-to-date information directly into ChatGPT, making it easier for shoppers to explore, compare and decide what they want to buy while deepening their relationship with the retailer.
Notably, OpenAI officially shifted its e-commerce strategy recently, moving away from the "Instant Checkout" feature it had introduced just six months ago. Instead of allowing consumers to complete purchases directly within the ChatGPT interface, the company is prioritizing product search and discovery.
"We’ve found that the initial version of Instant Checkout did not offer the level of flexibility that we aspire to provide, so we’re allowing merchants to use their own checkout experiences while we focus our efforts on product discovery,” the release said.
The latest iteration was designed with consumers’ hectic schedules in mind, so users won’t have to scroll through pages of results anymore. ChatGPT will help them find products based on their budget, preferences and other factors. The app also enables them to upload more visually appealing images as inspiration for similar items and see the products side by side, while being able to compare price, reviews and features.
“By partnering closely with OpenAI, we’ve been able to learn together as we move quickly to shape what agentic commerce can become,” Daniel Danker, Walmart’s executive vice president, AI acceleration, product and design, said in the release. “[The] launch brings Walmart directly into the ChatGPT experience, combining leading conversational AI with the decades of retail expertise we’ve built serving customers.”
For users, this move aims to turn shopping from a fragmented, time-consuming process into a single, seamless experience. For retailers, it brings higher-intent shoppers who are closer to making a decision. OpenAI says these updates are rolling out to all ChatGPT free, Go, Plus and Pro users now, with more to come as it continues to invest in product discovery with ChatGPT.
Retailers including Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Lowe’s, Best Buy, The Home Depot and Wayfair have also integrated into ACP for discovery, according to OpenAI. For merchants on Shopify, product data is already integrated into ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog, helping products appear more accurately and completely in relevant user conversations.
"Millions of Shopify merchants are open for business in ChatGPT,” Mani Fazeli, vice president of product supply for the e-commerce platform, said in the release. “When buyers look for products, the Shopify Catalog offers the most relevant options from the brands that people love. They can complete purchases on the merchant's online store through an in-app browser, so everything happens seamlessly, with the merchant's brand front and center. This is AI shopping at scale."
