As ‘robot shoppers’ and AI shopping move from a work of fiction to the next evolution of customer experience, Walmart has become the latest enterprise to prepare for this eventually.
The retail giant is preparing for a future where AI-powered shopping agents, not human customers, drive purchasing decisions, price comparisons, and brand loyalty.
Walmart recognizes AI-driven shopping assistants as an entirely new type of customer, distinct from traditional consumers.
On this, Walmart is developing its own AI-powered shopping agents, accessible through its app and website. These agents will handle routine tasks such as reordering weekly groceries and assembling shopping baskets based on user prompts.
However, the company is also preparing for a future where consumers may opt for third-party shopping agents built by tech firms, ensuring its systems are adaptable to external AI-driven purchasing solutions.
In effect, AI agents won’t just facilitate transactions; they’ll redefine how retailers deliver customer experience.
Rethinking CX for Machine-Driven Commerce
This evolution demands a fundamental reassessment of customer experience strategies.
Retailers must ensure their platforms and services align with AI-driven preferences, enabling automated purchasing with confidence.
Speaking on this announcement through LinkedIn, Sirte Pihlaja, CEO of Shirute, explained: “Walmart’s proactive investment positions it to shape how the retail landscape adapts to artificial intelligence, potentially giving it a competitive edge.
The shopping experience of the future won’t just be personalized, it will be fully automated, with machine customers driving loyalty, efficiency, and expectations.
The Future of Retail: Personalization Meets Automation
As retailers adapt, AI shopping assistants will become key drivers of consumer engagement, setting new benchmarks for speed, accuracy, and seamless purchasing experiences.
Walmart anticipates the development of an industry-wide protocol that will enable third-party shopping agents to interact with retailers’ proprietary AI systems seamlessly.
This would allow retailers to transfer personalized product recommendations from their platforms to external shopping assistants, ensuring a more integrated and user-driven purchasing experience.
Walmart is the latest in a growing number of retailers and enterprises looking to get ahead and not fall behind in the new rise of AI-led commerce experience.
Take Amazon, for example, its new ‘Buy for Me’ feature allows users to purchase products from third-party websites directly through the Amazon app, with AI handling the transaction on their behalf.
But this isn’t just an incremental upgrade; it marks a fundamental shift in e-commerce.
Then, consider how OpenAI recently announced that ChatGPT will let users shop directly from their search results.
The news comes as search is becoming increasingly popular through ChatGPT, with over one billion searches in one week in early May alone.
This announcement then fanned the flames of rumors surrounding an integration between OpenAI and Shopify.
The epicentre of the rumors was a code leak suggesting that OpenAI tested native shopping capabilities with Shopify.
Retailers Currently Spinning Plates as Consumers Evolve to Become More Tech Savvy
While retailers grapple with the changing landscape of the shopping experience, they will also have their eyes firmly set on how AI agents or “machine customers” will transform customer support.
Machine customers are AI-driven digital assistants designed to handle service tasks for human users, such as interacting across customer service channels.
Indeed, Google has recently made several moves to usher in the future of “machine-to-machine” customer service, with the implication that contact centers will leverage AI agents to converse with customers, too.
Most notably, Google’s newly introduced Ask for Me feature enables some Google search users to leverage an AI agent that calls businesses on their behalf.
