Google said Sunday it is expanding shopping features in its Gemini AI chatbot by teaming with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other big retailers to make the Gemini app function as a virtual merchant as well as an assistant.
Google and Walmart said the expansion includes an instant checkout function that would allow customers to make purchases from some businesses and through a range of payment providers without leaving the Gemini chat they used to find products. The companies said the feature is designed to connect product discovery with buying inside the same conversation.
The announcement came on the first day of the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York, which is expected to draw 40,000 attendees from retail and technology companies this week. The role of artificial intelligence in e-commerce and its impact on consumer behavior are expected to dominate the three-day event.
In a joint statement, Walmart’s incoming president and CEO John Furner and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the transition from traditional search toward “agent-led commerce” is the next stage of retail. “The transition from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail,” Furner said in the statement with Pichai.
Google said the new AI shopping feature works by having Gemini return items from participating retailers’ inventories after a customer asks a shopping question. In the example provided, if a customer asks what gear to get for a winter ski trip, Gemini would pull items from participating retailers’ inventory.
For Walmart’s part of the rollout, Google said customers who link their Walmart and Google accounts will receive recommendations based on past purchases. The statement also said products bought via the chatbot could be combined with customers’ existing Walmart or Sam’s Club online shopping carts.
The move follows similar announcements from other companies in recent months. OpenAI and Walmart announced in October a deal that would let ChatGPT members use an instant checkout feature to shop for nearly everything available on Walmart’s website except fresh food. Before the holiday season, OpenAI also launched an instant checkout function within ChatGPT for products from select retailers and Etsy sellers, the AP reported.
Google said Gemini’s AI-assisted shopping features would be available to U.S. users initially, with international expansion planned in coming months. It also said shoppers will start by paying with cards linked to their Google accounts, but that PayPal would be added soon.
At the same convention, PayPal vice president of agentic commerce and commercial growth Mike Edmonds cautioned retailers about expectations for agentic commerce. “I’m under no false belief that there’s going to be a snap of the finger and then all of a sudden, agentic commerce is going to get everywhere,” Edmonds said, adding that retailers should not take a wait-and-see approach.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, speaking to reporters earlier in the week, said people like the feeling of a personal shopper. He described it as “having a personal shopper who really gets them, understands them and can fit something in your budget,” and said Shopify also wants to avoid over automation.
Lutke said, “The 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,” describing how Shopify is trying to balance assistance with consumer control.
Walmart’s Furner said the company is using AI to reduce friction between wanting a product and having it. “close the gap between I want it and I have it” with the help of AI, he said at the convention, according to the report.
Alongside the shopping announcements, Walmart said it plans to expand drone delivery service to 150 more stores in partnership with Wing, a division of Alphabet. The companies said the addition would bring Walmart’s drone delivery locations with Wing to 270 by 2027, stretching from Los Angeles to Miami.
Salesforce estimated that AI influenced $272 billion, or 20%, of all global retail sales during the holiday shopping season, according to the AP report.