New Delhi: Google recently announced that it is expanding the shopping features in its AI chatbot by teaming up with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other big retailers to turn the Gemini application into a virtual merchant as well as assistant. An instant checkout function will enable customers to make purchases from some businesses and through a range of payment providers without leaving the Gemini chat they used to find products.
This latest news was announced on the first day of the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York. The role of AI in e-commerce and its impact on consumer behaviour are expected to dominate the three-day event. The transition from traditional web or application search to agent-led commerce represents the next significant evolution in retail. Google’s latest AI shopping feature works this way if the customer asks what gear to get for a winter ski trip. Customers who link their Walmart and Gemini accounts will receive recommendations based on their past purchases, and any products they decide to buy through the chatbot could get combined with their existing Walmart or Sam’s Club online shopping carts.
OpenAI and Walmart announced a similar deal in October, stating the partnership would enable ChatGPT members to use an instant checkout feature to shop for nearly everything available on Walmart’s website, except for fresh food. Google, OpenAI and Amazon are all racing to create tools that would allow for seamless AI-powered shopping by taking chatbot users from browsing to buying within the same program instead of having to go to a retailer’s website to complete a purchase. The race between OpenAI and Google has heated up in recent months.
