Google partners with Walmart, Shopify, others to enable in-chat shopping on Gemini AI chatbot: How does it work?
Google announced Sunday that it is working with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other major retailers to turn Gemini AI into both a virtual merchant and an assistant; it’s a move aimed at expanding shopping features for chatbot users, news agency access point reported.
With this latest offering, Google will allow customers to instantly purchase items from some businesses and pay using different payment options without leaving the Gemini chat they used to find products, according to Walmart and Google.
The launch was announced on the first day of the National Retail Federation’s annual meeting in New York. Most of the discussions at the event are expected to comprehensively address the role of artificial intelligence in e-commerce and its impact on consumer behavior.
“The shift from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next big evolution in retail,” Walmart’s new chairman and CEO, John Furner, said in a joint statement with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
How does the shopping feature work?
Users may be wondering how this feature works. The process is pretty simple: For example, if a customer asks Gemini AI what clothes he should pack for a winter ski trip, the chatbot will recommend products and equipment from participating retailers’ inventories.
In the case of Walmart in particular, users can connect their Walmart and Gemini accounts to receive customized product recommendations based on past purchases. According to the statement, if they choose to purchase products through the chatbot, these products can be added to their existing Walmart or Sam’s Club online shopping carts.
OpenAI and Walmart, led by Sam Altman, announced a similar deal in October, saying the partnership would allow ChatGPT members to use instant checkout to buy almost anything on Walmart’s website, except fresh groceries.
Big tech companies are racing to create AI-powered shopping tools
Google, OpenAI and Amazon are racing to create tools that will enable seamless AI-powered shopping by enabling chatbot users to move from browsing to purchasing within the same program, rather than having to navigate to a retailer’s website to complete a purchase. The race between OpenAI and Google has heated up in recent months.
Ahead of the recent holiday shopping season, OpenAI launched an instant checkout feature in ChatGPT that allows users to purchase items from select retailers and Etsy sellers without leaving the app.
Google said the AI-powered shopping features on Gemini will initially be available only to US users, but plans to expand internationally in the coming months.
