Walmart said Tuesday it was partnering with OpenAI to enable customers and Sam’s Club members to buy directly inside ChatGPT, using the AI chatbot’s Fast Checkout feature.
The world’s largest retailer is expanding its use of artificial intelligence as corporations across sectors adopt the technology to simplify tasks and cut costs.
Walmart has announced AI tools including generative AI-powered ‘Sparky,’ which is accessible on its app to help customers with product suggestions or summarizing product reviews, amongst other options.
The corporate’s growing investment in AI can also be aimed toward closing the gap with online behemoth Amazon, which had a head start with its chatbot, Rufus, a Gen AI-powered shopping assistant that answers various shopping queries.
Walmart’s tie-up with the ChatGPT-maker follows a similar partnership OpenAI announced last month with Etsy and Shopify.
About 15% of total referral traffic for Walmart in September was from ChatGPT, up from 9.5% in August, data from SimilarWeb showed.
Nonetheless, referrals are only a minor source of traffic and ChatGPT referrals accounted for lower than 1% of total web traffic for Walmart, the research firm said.
Walmart shares were up about 5% on Tuesday.
