• by Sarah Mahoney , 4 hours ago

Walmart announced a new partnership with OpenAI, allowing Walmart and Sam’s Club customers to shop through ChatGPT using Instant Checkout. The new relationship is similar to deals OpenAI announced last month with both Etsy and Shopify. It brings agentic commerce to consumers in the most natural way Walmart can imagine, inviting them to plan meals, restock their kitchens or find a gift for someone.

“For many years now, ecommerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart’s president and CEO, in the announcement. “That is about to change. There is a native AI experience coming that is multimedia, personalized and contextual. We are running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future with Sparky and through partnerships, including this important step with OpenAI.” (Sparky is the company's AI shopping assistant.)

At the center of this transformation are the everyday moments that define how people shop. This is agentic commerce in action: where AI shifts from reactive to proactive, from static to dynamic. It learns, plans and predicts, helping customers anticipate their needs before they do.

Walmart is already galloping toward more integrated AI offers and claims internal use of AI has already reduced times spent on customer care resolution systems by 40%, and reduced apparel production timelines by up to 18 weeks. The Arkansas-based retailer is also actively promoting AI literacy across its workforce, as one of the early partners of OpenAI certifications.

Given ChatGPT’s weekly 800 million users, the move should create significant opportunities for Walmart, writes Michael Lasser, an analyst who follows Walmart for UBS, in emailed comments. “Once again, Walmart is being early in adopting new technologies to better reflect evolving consumer trends. ChatGPT is being increasingly used for product discovery. This should provide incrementality and differentiation versus the rest of retail.”

Barron’s quotes Mizuho analyst David Bellinger:  “Walmart is clearly ahead of the curve here, while others have been slow to adapt or even made efforts to block AI web crawlers,” he wrote. “In our view, being the early leader in this vertical could drive much more volume to Walmart’s core consumables and grocery-heavy business.”<