Walmart’s ChatGPT Checkout Flops: What Went Wrong Behind the Scenes?
Ever wondered if letting AI take the wheel in your shopping cart could speed things up or just leave you stranded? Well, Walmart’s recent dive into agentic commerce — where checkout happens right inside ChatGPT — might just be the cautionary tale marketers didn’t see coming. Instead of a smooth ride, shoppers bailed at a jaw-dropping 66% higher rate compared to traditional website checkouts. It seems that while AI is great at sparking discovery, customers still crave that trusted, familiar environment when it comes time to seal the deal. So, is agentic commerce ready to rewrite the future of shopping, or is it simply a dead-end detour? Let’s unpack what Walmart’s experiment teaches us about where the true magic of conversion still happens. LEARN MORE.
Walmart just ran a real-world test of agentic commerce, and the results weren’t encouraging.
Purchases completed directly inside ChatGPT converted at roughly one-third the rate of transactions where users clicked through to Walmart’s site. In other words, moving checkout into the AI interface reduced conversion rates by about 66%.
Why this matters: Agentic commerce isn’t ready to replace traditional shopping flows. For now, owned environments still convert better, likely because they provide the context, trust and experience shoppers expect at the point of purchase.
In November, Walmart made around 200,000 products available through OpenAI’s Instant Checkout, allowing users to complete purchases in ChatGPT without ever visiting Walmart.com. According to Daniel Danker, Walmart’s EVP of product and design, those in-chat transactions underperformed significantly. He described the experience as “unsatisfying,” and the company is already pulling back.
That aligns with a broader shift. OpenAI has begun phasing out Instant Checkout in favor of merchant-controlled checkout experiences. Instead of trying to complete transactions inside the AI interface, the model is moving toward handing off the transaction back to the retailer.
Walmart’s next move reflects that direction. The company plans to embed its own chatbot, Sparky, داخل ChatGPT, allowing users to log into their Walmart accounts, sync carts and complete purchases within Walmart’s own system. A similar integration is expected to roll out with Google Gemini.
The takeaway is straightforward. Discovery may be moving into AI interfaces, but conversion still happens where brands control the experience.
MarTech is owned by Semrush. We remain committed to providing high-quality coverage of marketing topics. Unless otherwise noted, this page’s content was written by either an employee or a paid contractor of Semrush Inc.
Danny Goodwin is Editorial Director of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events.
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.
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