Google Partners with Walmart: "Walmart Products Now Available for Purchase via Chatbot"

Introduction of Product Purchase and Payment Features
Competition Heats Up in the AI E-Commerce Market

Google's partnership with Walmart to introduce product purchase and payment features is expected to intensify competition in the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered e-commerce market.

Google Official Blog.

On January 11 (local time), Google announced in a blog post that it is "introducing a new open standard for agentic (assistant-type) commerce and AI tools to help retailers connect with customers who have high purchase intent and boost sales."

Google explained that by applying the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which was developed in collaboration with companies such as Walmart, Target, Shopify, Wayfair, and Etsy, users will be able to purchase and pay for products directly through Google’s Search AI mode and the Gemini chatbot application (app).

This means that users can search for products with the help of an AI chatbot on Google or the Gemini platform, and then be directly connected to the retailer’s system to complete their purchase.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, took the stage with Walmart’s top executives at the National Retail Federation event held in New York on this day to announce the details of the partnership between the two companies.

CEO Pichai stated, "AI can take on the difficult task of precisely selecting the products users most want to buy," adding, "It can assist throughout the entire customer experience, from product discovery and purchase decisions to delivery."

Walmart said, "Within the next few months, customers will be able to purchase products through the Gemini browser or mobile app," and explained that the offering will include apparel, consumer goods, entertainment products, and food currently sold at Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Walmart had also announced plans to collaborate with OpenAI in October of last year.