Walmart has launched Sparky, a new shopping assistant designed to help consumers with shopping exploration, research and purchasing.
Walmart also announced an expansion of its drone delivery service, which will now operate in five states.
Walmart has developed Sparky as an GenAI-powered retail companion with agentic properties designed to simplify life and embed seamlessly into how customers shop and live, according to a blog post from Desiree Gosby, the company’s senior vice president of tech strategy and emerging tech.
Consumers can try out the shopping assistant across all product categories via a smiling “Ask Sparky” button in the retailer’s app, Gosby indicated. When they click on the button, Walmart shoppers can get Sparky’s help in finding items, synthesizing reviews and preparing for occasions. For example, Sparky can look up current sporting events and find the associated teams’ jerseys, or it can plan celebrations and select gifts. Within the Sparky platform, consumers can check the weather at beaches they’re intending to visit and get outfit recommendations.
Sparky also can provide instant and comprehensive answers to product-related questions, helping shoppers understand specific features, compare items and make informed choices, Gosby maintained.
Sparky User Experience
Sparky capabilities will soon expand to include reordering, service booking and understanding text, image, audio and video inputs, Gosby noted. In the next phase of the assistant’s introduction, Sparky will allow shoppers to customize their interactions with Walmart from automatically reordering household essentials to booking services that simplify complex shopping tasks. Sparky will solve everyday problems, freeing up time by helping shoppers set up a week of family-approved meal plans, for example, and getting the ingredients needed for them automatically added to carts, according to the company. Consumers will be ask Sparky, for example, how to fix leaky faucets and get step-by-step guidance with the right tools ordered for same-day delivery. For consumers who need party suppliers, Sparky will be able to conduct a complete event planning session that covers theme, decorations, food and gifts personalized and coordinated within budget, Gosby pointed out.
Gosby added Sparky is a foundation for what’s next in retail and will fuel Walmart’s journey into a shopping future offering new and improved customer experiences.
Walmart also is extending drone delivery beyond its headquarters location in Bentonville, AR, and Dallas by adding Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Tampa. In the new markets, Walmart will make drone delivery available through 100 stores. Walmart said it is the first retailer to scale drone delivery to five states. Walmart reported it has completed more than 150,000 successful drone deliveries since 2021.
