The Reason Walmart’s ChatGPT Experience Flopped, and What It Means for AI Shopping |
The Reason Walmart’s ChatGPT Experience Flopped, and What It Means for AI Shopping
Despite setbacks, the retail giant isn’t giving up on AI-powered shopping.
BY CHRIS MORRIS @MORRISATLARGE
Illustration: Inc.; Photos: Adobe Stock
Just over five months after Walmart and OpenAI partnered to create AI-first shopping experiences, the first results are in. They’re not especially encouraging.
Conversion rates for ChatGPT checkouts were reportedly three times lower than those on the company’s website, after customers found the experience “unsatisfying.” (OpenAI, in announcing changes to its product discovery tool, acknowledged the need to improve “speed, relevance, and product coverage—so results are more up-to-date and more useful.”) Now Walmart is making some notable changes to try to improve those figures.
To be clear, Walmart isn’t retreating for AI shopping experiences. It announced a partnership with Google’s Gemini in January, which has yet to launch, and will continue to work with OpenAI. And while ChatGPT users might not notice much of a difference in their experience, there will be some big changes in the backend.
Walmart will embed its own AI assistant (called “Sparky“) within ChatGPT for shoppers that are looking at its products. Using Sparky to power the experience ensures Walmart owns the customer experience and shoppers get the same benefits and customizations they would if they had gone to Walmart.com, the retailer says.
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From a consumer perspective, things won’t look much different. When they choose to buy, for instance, they won’t be kicked over to Walmart’s website. The process will be seamless.
“Shopping can start anywhere now, whether that’s Walmart or a question in ChatGPT,” said Daniel Danker, EVP of AI acceleration, product and design at Walmart, in a statement to Inc. “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.”
Walmart officials say the company was not bothered by the low conversion rates on ChatGPT. AI shopping is such a new phenomenon that the retailer says it’s much too early to draw any conclusions about its ultimate success or failure. As with other industries, they expect there to be a good bit of iterating and different sorts of tests to see what works best.