Shownotes
Walmart makes a bold move partnering with OpenAI to bring shopping directly to ChatGPT! Sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso.
In this segment, we discuss how users will shop Walmart's massive assortment... including apparel, entertainment, and packaged foods right from ChatGPT with a simple buy button. Fresh food is notably excluded for now, but this strategic decision shows Walmart's thoughtful approach to leveraging its omnichannel advantage against Amazon.
Hosts Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga are joined by Alvarez & Marsal's Lisa Collier and Manola Soler join us to analyze whether this is an "if you can't beat them, join them" moment and what it means for other retailers. We explore the competitive implications, data sharing considerations, and why this move could reshape the "marketplace of marketplaces."
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#walmart #openai #chatgpt #AIretail #retailtech #amazon #marketplace #omnichannel
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Transcripts
Walmart is partnering with OpenAI to offer shopping on ChatGPT.
Speaker A:According to Bloomberg, users will be able to shop Walmart's assortment directly on ChatGPT by clicking a buy button with the catalog, including apparel, entertainment, packaged food and other products.
Speaker A:The new function will launch in the fall with customers current Walmart or Sam's Club accounts getting automatically linked to ChatGPT and goods also being available from third party sellers.
Speaker A:Notably, however, fresh food is not included in the offering, partly because Walmart told Bloomberg consumers buy similar products weekly.
Speaker A:Lisa, we're going to go to you first on this one is Walmart's decision to offer shopping through ChatGPT and if you can't beat them, join them.
Speaker A:Signal to the rest of the industry.
Speaker A:Yeah, wow.
Speaker B:I mean, I think it is, yes, a big move for Walmart.
Speaker B:I mean really big move.
Speaker B:As I read through the article, it was not the first brand or the first retailer I would have expected to jump here.
Speaker B:I think it's amazing that they're recognizing what they need to do with AI and becoming adaptive in the new world.
Speaker B:And I hadn't really thought about how AI could be used in this space and I was quite, quite impressed with the idea.
Speaker B:So I think it is signaling to the retailers there is a shift and an adaptation that needs to happen pretty quickly across the retail platforms.
Speaker A:And Lisa, do you feel like this is, is particularly valuable to Walmart and would you recommend that other retailers kind of follow suit here?
Speaker A:Is this, is this like the dawn of, of, you know, online commerce again where, where most retailers should be thinking about it or do you think this is specific to a retailer like Walmart where this might make more sense?
Speaker B:I, I, I think my instinct is it makes sense for like the big box retailers.
Speaker B:Okay, I, that, that's my reaction because I think, you know, as we think about all the other things in, with, with a brand and retail at the brand level, I think the execution is going to look different.
Speaker B:That's just my gut reaction.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker A:Manola, where do you land on this, especially given your experience?
Speaker A:Like what about beauty brands?
Speaker A:What about fashion brands?
Speaker A:Like does this make sense here?
Speaker A:Is this something that they should be looking at?
Speaker C:I mean, listen, I think it's a really, it's a nimble move by, by Walmart and I think it's responding to, if I look at, you know, younger people, they use Chat GPT as Google.
Speaker C:They're like Google, I don't know.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:They're just going on chat PT and that's their search engine.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So it's smart for a company like Walmart especially.
Speaker C:They have all that data, which is what a chat GPT, you know, would feed off of that huge assortment.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So I think it's a good move that kind of brings together where consumers are searching for new product and it's a good tool to parse through that gigantic assortment they have going.
Speaker C:They have going on.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:But yeah, for beauty would definitely make sense.
Speaker C:You know, sometimes it's hard to select one product versus another, especially in a digital environment.
Speaker C:So, yeah, I can help, you know, go through recommendations and find a product that's best suited for you.
Speaker C:I think that's something that has legs from a consumer perspective.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think, I think you're right.
Speaker A:Like all these searches, especially in, in some of those categories like beauty, like fashion, like home furnishings, like, it's good to have some of this insight, you know, and then taking you to a buy button without leaving that app.
Speaker A:I think it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker A:Chris, I'm curious too.
Speaker A:From your perspective, what about the fresh food component?
Speaker A:Like that to me seemed strange because I think another reason that you're on ChatGPT is for recipe creation and that kind of thing.
Speaker A:So to not have fresh food as a part of it, to me it was like, is that the right move?
Speaker A:But I mean, you have lots of background in this space.
Speaker A:Like, what.
Speaker A:What do you think here about this move from Walmart?
Speaker D:Yeah, well, the fresh food part is really interesting to me because I think that shows me that Walmart's being very thoughtful and strategic about how they're doing this because they know that grocery is their differentiation point.
Speaker D:It's their big competitive advantage.
Speaker D:They're not saying they may not do it in the long run, but they're not doing it to start.
Speaker D:And what I really like about, what I really like about this move is it's a, it's a, basically a direct attack on Amazon.
Speaker D:Because when you think about who can win in this new.
Speaker D:The way I describe it is like marketplace of marketplaces.
Speaker D:That's what op.
Speaker D:That's what chat GPT, that's what OpenAI is creating here.
Speaker D:And who can win in the marketplace of marketplaces when basically all the items Walmart carries are exactly the same as Amazon.
Speaker D:Well, it's going to be Walmart because Walmart has the ability to offer you so many more omnichannel options and conveniences.
Speaker D:You want to pick it up in the storage, you want to have it shipped to your house.
Speaker D:Amazon doesn't have that ability at all so I think this is a direct assault on Amazon's marketplace, which we know is also important because the bigger and faster you grow your marketplace, the more retail media dollars you get and the more you just continue to, to fuel the flywheel that Walmart has been fueling so successfully now for the past, you know, five or six years.
Speaker A:And what do you guys think about, you know, the, the information being passed here?
Speaker A:Like I think that's another thing is like Amazon's keeping their walled gardens.
Speaker A:They don't want people to be going through chatbots to search for products.
Speaker A:They're keeping it to going to Amazon to search for products.
Speaker A:And Walmart's opening this up now.
Speaker A:They're sharing this data.
Speaker A:But do you think that no data or that shared data is better than no data, like the Amazon approach here?
Speaker A:Does anybody have an opinion on that?
Speaker B:I mean, I think I do.
Speaker B:You know, look, I, I think I, I, I am gonna probably follow the lead of agreeing with Chris here.
Speaker B:He and I are on the same page again on this one like before, but I thought the first thing I thought of is watch out Amazon.
Speaker B:And I think Amazon wants to, to be the largest search engine and I think this is going to give them a kick that there's other ways to go about it and the data is out there, so why not use it to your advantage?
Speaker B:I think Walmart's being strategic to say let's take the data we have and really utilize it in a way that's going to drive traffic and consumers through benefit.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Chris, what are your thoughts there?
Speaker A:Last word.
Speaker D:The other important point here, to put this in context, and the news is changing is happening so quickly.
Speaker D:Like just Yesterday, you know, OpenAI announced their new browser to their Atlas browser.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:And we saw something similar from Perplexity too.
Speaker D:Anthropic hasn't come out with that yet.
Speaker D:And who's the biggest investor in Anthropic?
Speaker D:I believe it's Amazon.
Speaker D:If they're not the biggest, they're one of the biggest.
Speaker D:So Amazon could be making a play here in a similar way.
Speaker D:We just don't know.
Speaker D:So that's how to answer your data sharing question, Ann, is, I think, you know, is Amazon taking that approach?
Speaker D:I don't know that they're creating the closed garden that they may be just because they haven't actively been talking about anything that could still be coming down the road as this space continues to evolve and the ultimate user interface gets designed in this Betamax vs VHS battle across all these different GPT like platforms.
Speaker D:So yeah, man.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker D:It's just such a crazy space.