NEW YORK — Google said Sunday that it is teaming up with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other major retailers to enable shopping and instant checkout directly within its Gemini AI chatbot, allowing customers to find and buy products through a conversational interface without navigating to a retailer’s website. The announcement came on the opening day of the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York, where the role of artificial intelligence in e-commerce was expected to dominate the three-day gathering of roughly 40,000 retail and technology industry attendees.
The deal intensifies a race between Google, OpenAI and Amazon to establish AI chatbots as the new gateway to online retail — a shift that could restructure how consumers discover and purchase products across the internet.
“The transition from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail,” John Furner, Walmart’s incoming president and CEO, said in a joint statement with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
How the feature works
When a customer asks Gemini what gear to pack for a winter ski trip, for example, the chatbot returns items drawn from participating retailers’ inventory. Customers who link their Walmart and Google accounts receive recommendations based on their past purchases, and products they decide to buy through the chatbot can be combined with their existing Walmart or Sam’s Club online shopping carts, according to the companies.
Shoppers initially can make payments only through cards linked to their Google accounts, Google said, but support for PayPal is expected to follow. The AI shopping features will initially be available only to U.S. users, with international expansion planned for coming months.
Furner said Sunday that Walmart is trying to “close the gap between I want it and I have it” with the help of AI.
A field that is still finding its limits
OpenAI and Walmart announced a similar arrangement in October, allowing ChatGPT members to use an instant checkout feature for nearly everything on Walmart’s website except fresh food. Before the recent holiday shopping season, OpenAI also launched an instant checkout feature within ChatGPT for select retailers and Etsy sellers.
Software company Salesforce estimated that AI influenced $272 billion, or about 20%, of all global retail sales during the 2025 holiday season, according to the AP.
Despite the wave of announcements, some executives cautioned against expecting an immediate transformation. Mike Edmonds, PayPal’s vice president of agentic commerce and commercial growth, said at Sunday’s convention: “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.” He nonetheless cautioned retailers against a wait-and-see approach.
Tobi Lutke, Shopify’s founder and CEO, said many people like the experience of “having a personal shopper who really gets them, understands them and can fit something in your budget,” but added that Shopify also wants to ensure it does not “over automate.”
“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,” Lutke said.
Walmart adds drone delivery expansion
Also at Sunday’s convention, Furner and Pichai announced that Walmart plans to expand drone delivery service to 150 more stores in partnership with Wing, a division of Alphabet. The addition would bring Walmart’s total Wing drone delivery locations to 270 by 2027, spanning from Los Angeles to Miami, the companies said.