Dive Brief:
- Walmart debuted an in-platform app experience in OpenAI’s ChatGPT backed by its commerce agent Sparky, according to information from OpenAI and Walmart. The experience supports the full shopping journey, taking users from discovery in ChatGPT to a Walmart environment supporting account linking, loyalty and payment.
- The revamped Walmart experience on ChatGPT comes as OpenAI rethinks the Instant Checkout experience, which launched in September and allowed users to complete purchases within ChatGPT. The AI company “found that the initial version of Instant Checkout did not offer the level of flexibility that we aspire to provide, so we’re allowing merchants to use their own checkout experiences while we focus our efforts on product discovery,” per the announcement.
- As such, OpenAI is expanding the Agentic Commerce Protocol to better support product discovery on ChatGPT. Retailers such as Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Lowe’s, Best Buy, The Home Depot and Wayfair have integrated into ACP, OpenAI said.
Dive Insight:
Instant Checkout on ChatGPT launched with a splash last year, initially debuting in partnership with Etsy and Shopify. Now, ChatGPT has pivoted to focus on the discovery part of the shopping journey, letting the retailers and brands tackle the purchase portion.
OpenAI says it is learning from early launches and incorporating feedback from users and merchants to improve what shopping looks like on ChatGPT.
Walmart joined in on the Instant Checkout functionality about a month after it launched. The retailer’s revamped experience is now available in web browsers and ChatGPT app access in iOS and Android is soon to come.
“Shopping can start anywhere now, whether that’s Walmart or a question in ChatGPT,” Daniel Danker, executive vice president of AI acceleration, product and design at Walmart, said in a statement shared with Retail Dive. “Our approach is simple: wherever it begins, customers still get the same personalized Walmart experience, including our assortment, value and speed. With Sparky, we’re bringing our trusted experience into more places."
Merchants can share product feeds and promotions with OpenAI and their catalogs are more fully represented in ChatGPT with the updated ACP. The platform supports “multiple delivery paths, including through third-party providers like Salesforce and Stripe, so merchants can participate with the systems they already use,” per Tuesday’s announcement.
The refreshed ACP is intended to bring merchants higher-intent shoppers who are more ready to finalize a purchase. The updates are rolling out to all ChatGPT member tiers this week.
