OpenAI announced richer and more visual shopping functionality in connection with Walmart’s introduction of a new in-ChatGPT app element that takes users from discovery on the third-party platform into a tailored Walmart environment that supports account linking, loyalty and payments.
The new Walmart/ChatGPT capability is launching for web browsers, with app access in iOS and Android to follow shortly, according to OpenAI.
In the announcement, Daniel Danker, Walmart executive vice president of AI acceleration, product and design, stated. “By partnering closely with OpenAI, we’ve been able to learn together as we move quickly to shape what agentic commerce can become. Today’s launch brings Walmart directly into the ChatGPT experience, combining leading conversational AI with the decades of retail expertise we’ve built serving customers.”
The Walmart efforts are part of OpenAI’s drive to better integrate with the retail marketplace and build consumer interaction. The new visual browsing app component allows shoppers using ChatGPT to visually compare options side-by-side and get current detailed information in one place.
OpenAI reported ChatGPT is providing consumers more effective ways to take what was hours of searching and tab-hopping down to seconds. As in the case with visual browsing, OpenAI has been building its Agentic Commerce Protocol to support product discovery. The goal is to provide more complete, relevant and up-to-date information in ChatGPT to give consumers a faster, better way to find products and enable purchasing.
Now, ChatGPT allows consumers to introduce multiple factors, such as budget, preferences and constraints, into searches, including those conducted by visual browsing, in which consumers can upload of images as inspiration for discovering similar items. Then, ChatGPT presents search results side by side with key details, such as price, reviews and features, so shoppers can quickly evaluate options without jumping between sites.
With the new protocols, consumers can refine results conversationally until they land on the right option.
As it advances retail plans, OpenAI maintained it has improved speed, relevance and product coverage for more up-to-date and useful results. The company emphasized it can connect merchants with higher-intent shoppers who are closer to making a purchasing decision.
The upgraded discovery elements are rolling out to all ChatGPT free, Go, Plus and Pro users, with more to come as OpenAI invests in product discovery on its 3P platform, the company noted.
