Walmart partners with OpenAI: The dawn of agentic commerce

Early last week, Walmart announced a new partnership with OpenAI meant to unlock a multi-media-filled, personalized, and contextual shopping experience. It marks the dawn of agentic commerce - or what some are calling AI-first shopping - where AI doesn't just assist shoppers, it acts on their behalf.

According to a CNN source, this new feature is expected to roll out later this fall. Through this partnership, users will soon be able to shop Walmart's catalog directly in ChatGPT, transforming the way discovery and purchase moments occur.

Walmart and OpenAI's partnership is a glimpse into how AI will redefine the way shoppers discover, decide, and buy online, WebFX reports.

ChatGPT as the new checkout counter for ecommerce

Conversational interfaces are designed to facilitate transactions. This approach reduces the need to navigate multiple applications or scroll through numerous products. The system provides a curated list of personalized products for direct purchase.

Powered by ChatGPT's new Instant Checkout feature, Walmart shoppers can bypass the traditional ecommerce sequence "search → browse → add-to-cart → checkout" - and instead move seamlessly through a new flow: "prompt → response → select → check out."

So, instead of opening multiple tabs or scrolling through endless product pages, a holiday shopper, for example, could simply type something like "Christmas gifts for 5-year-olds" in the chatbot. The AI-agent then curates a short list of super relevant items and presents them with a checkout button, allowing them to buy the perfect present for their favorite little person from Walmart directly through the ChatGPT conversation.

How will Walmart's AI-first shopping experience work?

Walmart's AI-first shopping experience will center around its new assistant, "Sparky," which learns each customer's preferences, anticipates upcoming needs, and helps with tasks like meal planning or restocking essentials - all while enabling shoppers to complete purchases directly within ChatGPT using Instant Checkout.

AI will also ask follow-up questions and learn from users' past purchases and behavior to make appropriate recommendations in the future. And as a result, Walmart buyers can use the Instant Checkout feature to plan meals and restock the house. Users will also receive timely reminders when it's time to reorder essentials.

Fresh foods won't be available, but shoppers can always order packaged foods, apparel, devices, and other non-discretionary goods.

The shift to agentic commerce: What it means for businesses

Agentic commerce is the new era of online shopping, where AI agents act on behalf of consumers and redefine how and where purchase decisions are made.

That's why Walmart's move to create an AI-first shopping experience isn't just another AI integration. It's a signal that the customer's journeyas we know it is being rewritten.

Now, instead of starting the journey on Google or a retailer's website, users will initiate conversations with AI agents, with the hope that they can also conclude them there.

Now that Walmart has made it possible, it's a wake-up call for every business owner.

With agentic commerce, customers simply put in prompts such as "pet grooming services in my area" or "best running shoes for beginners," and they get three to five hyper-personalized and relevant options to choose from.

The agents are able to present them with tailored recommendations because they know their preferences, remember their last orders, and anticipate what they'll need next. They can even buy on their behalf. No website hopping. No cart abandonment. Just instant decisions.

This hyper-personalization will ensure that, more often than not, users leave the chat having made a purchase.

So while Walmart's move might sound big and far-off, it's really a nudge for every business to start thinking AI-first.

Why does this partnership matter beyond Walmart?

Walmart is already seeing and feeling the impact of jumping on the biggest AI retail shopping experience yet! For starters, Walmart's stock jumped 6% immediately after the announcement, marking its biggest single-day gain since April of this year.

But the real impact goes beyond share prices. That's why Walmart's not stopping here. CEO Doug McMillon has hinted that the AI agent will soon handle reorders and returns - features that could make "one-chat shopping" the new norm.

Other ecommerce giants are moving fast too: Stripe just partnered with Etsy and Shopify to enable AI-powered checkout for over a million merchants, including SKIMS and Spanx.

For small business owners, that means one thing: AI is becoming the new storefront.

Adopting an AI-first shopping experience will position your brand at the center of the next big thing in ecommerce. One where AI agents handle product discovery, decision-making, and even checkout.

What should businesses do now?

The next era of ecommerce will reward the businesses that show up early - and show up well. So, don't wait until AI decides your competitors are the default choice.

As consumer behavior shifts from traditional search engines to AI conversations, they'll be chatting with AI. That means your visibility depends on how easily AI can understand and trust your business data.

Here's how you should start optimizing your business for the new phase of ecommerce:

• Create conversational content: Your content has to talk back. That means the FAQs, service and product descriptions, and blog posts must provide users with real solutions. This will help AI tools know when to recommend you to clients.
• Add structured data: Structured data (like schema markup) tells AI exactly what your business does, where you are, and what customers think of you. The clearer your data, the more likely AI tools are to feature your products or services when people ask for them.
• Build a frictionless checkout: AI-driven shoppers expect instant decisions and easy transactions. That means mobile-friendly pages, one-click purchasing options, and seamless payment integrations. The fewer steps it takes to buy from you, the more likely they are to purchase and repurchase.
• Prioritize an AI brand presence: Make your business visible, trustworthy, and easy for AI systems to recognize and recommend.

This story was produced by WebFX and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 7:00 AM.