The AI-powered shopping revolution is accelerating as Walmart positions itself at the forefront of the emerging agentic commerce market. Daniel Danker, Walmart’s new head of AI, revealed at the ICR Conference in Orlando that Google’s Gemini platform offers a more seamless shopping experience than ChatGPT’s recently launched retail features.
The competition began heating up in November when ChatGPT introduced shopping experiences with major retailers, allowing customers to make purchases through conversational AI. Google quickly followed suit, announcing its own commerce approach through Gemini in partnership with many of the same retailers, including Walmart, the world’s largest retailer.
According to Danker, the key differentiator lies in how Gemini handles transactions. “We’re essentially having their AI agent, Gemini, partner with our AI agent to create a unified shopping journey,” he explained. The integration works like a window inside Gemini where Walmart’s shopping agent seamlessly completes purchases. Google’s new standards create a common language enabling different companies’ AI agents to interact effectively.
A crucial advantage of the Gemini partnership is its ability to link chat sessions with existing Walmart customer profiles and shopping sessions, even those initiated outside of Gemini. This is particularly valuable for Walmart+ members who receive benefits like reduced delivery fees and personalized experiences. “That member experience shows up directly within Gemini,” Danker noted.
Danker envisions agentic shopping capturing sales from customers who didn’t initially intend to make purchases. For instance, if someone asks Gemini for advice on removing a wine stain from a specific carpet brand, a cleaning product could be automatically added to their existing cart for combined delivery.
The market potential is substantial. Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that agentic sales could add $115 billion to US e-commerce spending by 2030, suggesting this technology represents a fundamental shift in retail.
Walmart’s strategy involves partnering with both ChatGPT and Gemini to maximize its AI advantage. Danker believes Walmart’s competitive edge lies in its reputation for low prices and growing delivery capabilities. He emphasized that “the most important currency in an agentic shopping world is actually trust and affordability,” arguing that customers need both to feel comfortable letting AI agents make purchasing decisions on their behalf.
Walmart’s broad selection, competitive pricing, and fast fulfillment help it appear more frequently in both Gemini and ChatGPT’s shopping recommendations, positioning the retail giant to dominate the AI shopping landscape.
Key Quotes
We’re essentially having their AI agent, Gemini, partner with our AI agent to create a unified shopping journey. Imagine it like a window inside of Gemini where our shopping agent kicks in and helps you complete that purchase.
Daniel Danker, Walmart’s head of AI, explained how the Gemini integration differs from ChatGPT’s approach, emphasizing the seamless partnership between AI agents that creates a more unified customer experience.
The most important currency in an agentic shopping world is actually trust and affordability. Without trust and affordability, it’s very difficult for customers to hand the wheel to someone else and expect that the right thing will happen.
Danker articulated Walmart’s competitive advantage in AI shopping, identifying the two critical factors that will determine which retailers succeed as consumers increasingly rely on AI agents to make purchasing decisions.
For the most part, our customers aren’t just customers; they’re often members. And so, they’re getting great delivery fees and a great experience that’s really attuned to them. That member experience shows up directly within Gemini.
Danker highlighted how Walmart’s integration with Gemini preserves the personalized experience for Walmart+ subscribers, demonstrating how AI shopping can maintain customer loyalty programs and existing relationships.
Our Take
Walmart’s aggressive AI shopping strategy reveals how quickly the retail landscape is transforming. The company’s dual-platform approach—partnering with both Google and OpenAI—is particularly shrewd, ensuring it captures customers regardless of which AI assistant becomes dominant. What’s most striking is Danker’s framing of trust and affordability as the “currency” of agentic shopping. This insight recognizes that AI-powered purchasing isn’t just a technical challenge but a psychological one. Consumers must feel confident that an AI agent will make decisions aligned with their values and budget constraints. Walmart’s decades-long reputation for low prices positions it uniquely for this moment. The $115 billion market projection suggests we’re witnessing the early stages of a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. However, questions remain about data privacy, algorithmic transparency, and whether consumers will truly embrace surrendering purchasing decisions to AI agents. Walmart’s success or failure in this arena will likely influence the entire retail industry’s AI trajectory.
Why This Matters
This development signals a pivotal moment in the evolution of e-commerce and AI integration. The emergence of agentic shopping—where AI assistants make purchasing decisions on behalf of users—represents a fundamental shift in how consumers interact with retailers. With Morgan Stanley projecting $115 billion in additional US e-commerce spending by 2030, this isn’t just an incremental improvement but a potential transformation of the retail industry.
Walmart’s strategic positioning with both major AI platforms (Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT) demonstrates how traditional retailers are adapting to maintain relevance in an AI-driven future. The company’s emphasis on trust and affordability as key differentiators highlights critical factors that will determine winners in agentic commerce. This matters beyond retail—it establishes precedents for how AI agents from different companies will interoperate and how customer data and preferences will be shared across platforms. The success or failure of these early implementations will shape consumer attitudes toward AI-powered purchasing for years to come, potentially accelerating or slowing adoption of autonomous shopping agents across the industry.