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Walmart brings ChatGPT-powered shopping to US shoppers

Walmart is set to introduce AI-powered shopping features for its US customers through OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The integration is expected to allow shoppers to plan meals, restock household essentials, and explore products via conversational interactions. Crucially, customers will be able to make purchases directly through ChatGPT using the Instant Checkout feature.

Launched last month in the US, OpenAI Instant Checkout is an Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) co-developed with financial services and software company Stripe. The protocol enables AI agents and merchants to interact easily to complete transactions. It reportedly enables retailers to integrate this feature without heavily modifying existing back-end infrastructure, while ensuring that merchants remain responsible for fulfilment, returns, payments and customer support.

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Walmart presents this strategic move as a new shift away from the traditional search-bar model, spearheaded years ago with the integration of conversional AI such as Apple’s Siri. By leveraging agentic AI capable of learning, planning and predicting, the retailer now aims to anticipate customer needs proactively, rather than responding reactively.

From search to predictive shopping

While online commerce platforms such as Etsy and Shopify have already embraced OpenAI Instant Checkout, Walmart’s scale and global influence marks a significant milestone. It signals the arrival of new key players beyond web browsers within the broader e-commerce ecosystem, with implications concerning product visibility, customer access and data protection.

The move also underscores retailers’ growing reliance on OpenAI tools across many core operations such as product catalogues, logistics, customer service and staff onboarding. The North American retail giant has not yet disclosed the release date of their new feature, and although OpenAI Instant Checkout has not yet launched in Europe, its US debut suggests that many international retailers may soon follow suit.

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Gildas Aïtamer

Gildas Aïtamer has been analysing the European retail industry at several consultancies for over the past decade. His expertise lies in the gathering and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data to extract actionable insights. His independent perspective on ongoing trends, knowledge and assessment of market opportunities made him a valued consultant for financial and FMCG industries wishing to keep abreast of developments in the grocery retail industry.

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