Walmart rolls out AI agents to shop for online customers
Walmart is welcoming AI agents to shop on its website and Sam's Club, introducing new tools and safety controls while Amazon blocks them.
Walmart is embracing the trend of automated shopping by allowing AI agents to make purchases on behalf of customers on its website and through Sam's Club. Announced on Wednesday by Walmart president and CEO John Furner at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco, the move contrasts sharply with competitors like Amazon, which have recently blocked AI shopping assistants from accessing their sites.
What is the Walmart Agent Gateway?
To facilitate automated shopping, Walmart has launched an Agent Gateway. This is a system built on the Model Context Protocol, an open standard originally created by Anthropic that allows artificial intelligence to connect safely with external tools and data sources.
The gateway allows approved AI agents to search Walmart's inventory and complete purchases. It is designed to let agents find regular items for customers, such as specific brands of milk or bread, without exposing the user's broader purchase history or personal data to the AI.
How do Agent Profiles and customer controls work?
Rolling out next month, Agent Profiles will let customers link and authorize specific AI assistants within their Walmart accounts. These profiles keep purchases made by AI separate from those made directly by human shoppers.
Walmart is also implementing safety controls. By default, shoppers must approve every transaction made by an AI agent. Alternatively, users can set specific spending limits or budgets for their agents. Customers can delete an agent profile or turn off access at any time, and standard return policies will still apply if an agent makes a mistake.
What it means for small businesses
As major retailers adopt open protocols to welcome automated shopping assistants, business owners should watch how consumer behavior shifts toward automated purchasing. While Walmart's specific gateway is designed for its own retail platform, the rise of agentic commerce highlights a growing consumer demand for AI integrations that can handle routine transactions securely.
Business owners who sell products online may need to consider how their own digital storefronts will interact with incoming AI shopping tools. Providing clear terms of service, robust privacy safeguards, and transparent user controls will likely become essential as customers increasingly rely on autonomous software to manage everyday purchases.
Comments 0
No comments yet. Start the conversation.