Why Walmart And Target Love ChatGPT But Amazon Is Banking On Rufus

The AI landscape is evolving rapidly, with a growing number of online shoppers turning to leading retailers like Walmart and Target, driven by recommendations from ChatGPT.

In an effort to compete with Google, major AI platforms are making headway into product searches, and most retailers are adjusting their inventories for these searches—except for online giant Amazon.

What accounts for this differing approach? It’s essential to recognize that this trend is still emerging, and ChatGPT’s referral traffic is modest compared to traditional search and paid avenues.

However, analytics data from Similarweb indicates a notable shift. In August, ChatGPT referred about 20% of Walmart’s website traffic, increasing from 16% the previous month. Target similarly sees nearly 15% of its referrals coming from ChatGPT, alongside double-digit contributions to platforms like Etsy and eBay.

OpenAI’s research alongside Harvard economist David Deming shows that around 2% of ChatGPT’s queries are shopping-related—equating to about 50 million shopping queries each day. With 2.5 billion total prompts, even a small percentage signals substantial purchase interest.

Research indicates users frequently seek product recommendations, revealing that AI tools are gradually replacing Google’s role in the shopping experience. Additionally, a survey from Omnisend suggests that almost 60% of U.S. consumers have utilized generative AI for their online shopping, and while Walmart typically sees less than 5% of total visits from referrals, generative AI is becoming an emerging pathway for product discovery.

ForbesChatGPT And AI Chatbots Will Reshape Shopping. Here’s Why Almost No One Is ReadyBy Richard Kestenbaum

Walmart Prepares for AI Integration

Although still in the early stages, this trend is leading Walmart’s U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Hari Vasudev, to predict that industry standards may evolve to allow AI shopping agents to interact directly with retailers’ systems, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In stark contrast, ChatGPT referrals to Amazon saw an 18% decline in August, dropping to under 3% of its total—linked to Amazon’s different strategy regarding AI agents and its controlled content exposure.

Walmart and Target have adopted an open approach to AI intermediaries, not imposing strict barriers on indexing or scraping by AI tools. They leverage the idea that external bots may enhance shopper engagement while allowing ChatGPT and other AI platforms access to their catalogs for product recommendations and links. Both retailers are also deploying internal machine learning and conversational tools to clarify product relevance, optimize AI ranking processes, and align catalogs with AI inquiries.

Simultaneously, OpenAI is reportedly developing features to incorporate payment and checkout directly into ChatGPT, which could facilitate transactions seamlessly and integrate affiliate or advertising revenue models.

Amazon’s Cautious Stance Compared to Walmart

Conversely, Amazon has taken a more controlled approach, restricting many third-party AI agents by limiting crawler access and curating its extensive product listings. Consequently, ChatGPT is unable to reliably access Amazon’s product links for its responses.

This caution stems from Amazon’s desire to safeguard its extensive e-commerce advertising ecosystem, wherein external AI agents could disrupt the flow of traffic and sales directed through its platform. By controlling AI access, Amazon retains oversight of the purchasing journey and monetization of its advertising inventory.

Amazingly, Amazon’s marketplace holds the largest repository of e-commerce data, serving as the foundation for a $56 billion advertising enterprise dependent on site visitor activity. Allowing external AI tools to surface product recommendations could undermine both traffic and advertising income.

For this reason, Amazon is doubling down on its internal AI efforts, chiefly through its Rufus tool, integrated into Amazon’s search functionality and user interface, complete with advertisements. Amazon aims to harness AI-driven shopping queries within its own system rather than delegating that role to ChatGPT.

However, this strategy could lead to Amazon lagging behind in technological advancements while Walmart and Target take the lead in AI-driven shopping.