Starting next month, Walmart will allow customers to connect their own AI agent to its website so that it can buy items on their behalf. Users will be able to approve and review purchases, set spending limits and choose their payment method, while agents will be forbidden from acting beyond the shopper’s intent. The retailer launched its Sparky assistant in June 2025 and a four-agent framework, with integrations involving OpenAI, Google and Meta. Its e-commerce sales rose 24% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, while Sparky users recorded a 40% increase in average order value and a 57% improvement in conversion rates for visual searches. Amazon has taken the opposite approach by blocking Perplexity and Meta agents to retain control over its shopping pages, recommendations and advertising.
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