Walmart is gearing up for a revolution in how people shop, focusing on making its products attractive not just to human shoppers, but also to AI (artificially intelligent) shopping agents.
As these AI bots, which can perform tasks without human intervention, start to change online shopping, retailers need to rethink their marketing strategies.
AI is already altering how consumers find products via search engines by providing AI-generated summaries, but completely autonomous shopping agents will change the game even more.
It’s predicited that in the near future, people will use agents like OpenAI’s Operator to do their shopping for them. These agents take users’ preferences into account and can make purchases on their behalf. This will compel retailers to evolve their advertising and how they describe their products online, and even reassess pricing strategies.
Walmart is already developing its own shopping agents for its app and website, which can handle tasks like reordering groceries or creating themed shopping lists. The company expects that some consumers might prefer using third-party agents, so it’s preparing for those too.
Looking to the future, it’s foreseen that there may be an industry standard allowing third-party agents to communicate with retailers’ systems for customized product recommendations. While these protocols are underway, they’re not yet fully developed.
Retailers such Walmart are adjusting their strategies, including how they price items or offer discounts in real-time. To date, most shopping still occurs in physical stores, but this digital transformation is already underway.
