NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Google said Sunday that it is expanding the shopping features in its AI chatbot by teaming up with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other big retailers to turn into a virtual merchant as well as an assistant.
An instant checkout function will allow customers to make purchases from some businesses and through a range of payment providers without leaving the Gemini chat they used , according to Walmart and Google.
The news was announced on the first day of the National Retail Federation鈥檚 annual convention in New York, which is expected to draw 40,000 attendees from retail and technology companies this week. The role of and its impact on consumer behavior are expected to dominate the three-day event.
鈥淭he transition from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail,” , Walmart’s incoming president and CEO, said in a joint statement with Google and Alphabet CEO .
Google鈥檚 new AI shopping feature works this way: if a customer asks what gear to get for a winter ski trip, for example, Gemini will return items from a participating retailers鈥� inventory.
In the case of Walmart, customers who link their Walmart and Google accounts will receive recommendations based on their past purchases, and any products they decide to buy via the chatbot could get combined with their existing Walmart or Sam’s Club online shopping carts, according to the statement.
announced a similar deal in October, saying the partnership would allow ChatGPT members to use an instant checkout feature to shop for nearly everything available on Walmart鈥檚 website except for fresh food.
, OpenAI and Amazon all are racing to create tools that would allow for seamless AI-powered shopping by taking from browsing to buying within the same program instead of having to go to a retailer鈥檚 website to complete a purchase. The race has heated up in recent months.
Before the recent holiday shopping season, OpenAI launched within ChatGPT that allows users to buy products from select retailers and Etsy sellers without leaving the app.
San Francisco software company Salesforce estimated that AI influenced $272 billion, or 20%, of all global retail sales, in one way or another during the holiday shopping season.
Google said the AI-assisted shopping features in Gemini only would be available to U.S. users initially but that it planned to expand internationally in the coming months. Shoppers initially only can make payments through the cards linked to their Google accounts but soon will be able to make purchases using PayPal, the company said.
The aim of deploying chatbots in e-commerce is to make it easier for people to find what they鈥檙e looking for. Instead of entering search terms and keywords, they can type or use voice dictation, and refine their searches through a conversational back-and-forth. Tech companies also are that are a step beyond today’s generative AI chatbots, though their ability to buy products on behalf of consumers is still limited.
鈥淚鈥檓 under no false belief that there鈥檚 going to be a snap of the finger and then all of a sudden, agentic commerce is going to get everywhere,” Mike Edmonds, PayPal’s vice president of agentic commerce and commercial growth, said at Sunday’s convention. But he cautioned retailers against taking a wait-and-see approach.
Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lutke told a small group of reporters on Thursday that many people like the experience of 鈥渉aving a personal shopper who really gets them, understands them and can fit something in your budget,” but Shopify also wants to make it doesn’t 鈥渙ver automate.”
鈥淭he person, the shopper, is in charge, and they can make the final call, but also we make it so that people find the perfect product for themselves,鈥� he added.
Walmart’s Furner said Sunday that the largest employer and retailer in the U.S. is trying to 鈥渃lose the gap between I want it and I have it鈥� with the help of AI.
He and Pichaei announced from a stage at the National Retail Federation conference that Walmart plans to expand to 150 more stores in partnership with Wing, a division of Alphabet. The addition will bring Walmart’s drone delivery locations with Wing to 270 by 2027, stretching from Los Angeles to Miami, the companies said.
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