Walmart Teams Up With OpenAI for Shopping on ChatGPT

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer by revenue, is joining forces with OpenAI, the most valuable private company in the world, to let shoppers browse and buy products directly through ChatGPT.

This partnership, announced on Tuesday in a press release, enables customers to utilize ChatGPT as a personal shopping assistant to request product recommendations, compare prices and provide the ability to buy in-app.

“For many years now, eCommerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a press release. “That is about to change. There is a native AI experience coming that is multi-media, personalized and contextual.”

Related: ChatGPT Can Now Run Apps Like Zillow and Spotify

The partnership makes online shopping more of a back-and-forth interaction between you and ChatGPT, rather than a typical search-and-click experience. For example, instead of typing search terms and scrolling through lists, shoppers tell ChatGPT what they are looking for, and then get recommendations for products. They can tap “Buy” underneath the product, confirm the shipping and payment details, and complete the purchase all in-app.

The new functionality will launch this fall, per Bloomberg.

Walmart’s catalog includes apparel, entertainment, packaged food, and other products from Walmart, Sam’s Club, and third-party sellers.

OpenAI also announced partnerships with Etsy and Shopify earlier this year that function similarly to the Walmart collaboration. Shoppers can purchase items on Etsy or Shopify through ChatGPT.

Related: OpenAI Made More Money in the First Six Months of the Year Than It Did in All of 2024

Shopping is becoming a fast-growing use case of AI. According to an August survey of 1,200 U.S. consumers conducted by email marketing platform Omnisend, nearly 60% of respondents used AI for shopping tasks. Only 32% felt reluctant to let AI handle payment transactions, down from 66% in February.

The survey additionally found that 65% of those who used AI when shopping preferred ChatGPT to other chatbots like Anthropic’s Claude, and used the chatbot for tasks like product research.

As of October, OpenAI has surpassed 800 million weekly active users, more than 10% of the world’s adult population. The startup became the most valuable privately held company in the world earlier this month, after a private stock sale valued the company at $500 billion.

Meanwhile, Walmart is the largest company in the world by revenue, with 2024 worldwide retail sales of $675.58 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. The company is also the largest private employer in the world, with over two million employees.

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Walmart, the world’s largest retailer by revenue, is joining forces with OpenAI, the most valuable private company in the world, to let shoppers browse and buy products directly through ChatGPT.

This partnership, announced on Tuesday in a press release, enables customers to utilize ChatGPT as a personal shopping assistant to request product recommendations, compare prices and provide the ability to buy in-app.

“For many years now, eCommerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a press release. “That is about to change. There is a native AI experience coming that is multi-media, personalized and contextual.”