Agentic checkout falls short in real-world retail

Walmart’s results show why AI shopping still relies on traditional conversion paths

Walmart’s experiment with in-chat purchasing through ChatGPT revealed significantly lower conversion rates compared to its own website. After offering around 200,000 products via OpenAI’s Instant Checkout, the retailer found that purchases completed inside ChatGPT converted at only one-third the rate of traditional click-through journeys. The company described the experience as unsatisfying and is now shifting away from native chatbot checkout. Instead, Walmart will prioritize integrations that route transactions back into its own ecosystem, where it can better control the user experience and conversion funnel.

Key takeaways

• Lower conversion performance: Purchases completed داخل ChatGPT converted three times worse than those completed on Walmart’s website, highlighting a significant gap in effectiveness.
• Experience limitations: The in-chat checkout flow did not meet user expectations, suggesting that current agentic commerce interfaces are not yet aligned with real shopping behavior.
• Shift away from native checkout: OpenAI is phasing out Instant Checkout, reflecting broader challenges in making third-party platforms viable transaction environments.
• Return to owned ecosystems: Walmart is prioritizing its own digital infrastructure, where it can optimize user experience, trust, and conversion performance.
• Integrated chatbot strategy: The company plans to embed its own assistant, Sparky, within platforms like ChatGPT, allowing users to interact conversationally while completing transactions داخل Walmart’s system.
• Cross-platform continuity: Future integrations will focus on syncing user accounts and shopping carts across environments, rather than completing transactions داخل third-party interfaces.
• Broader industry signal: Similar integrations with platforms like Google Gemini suggest a shift toward hybrid models, where discovery happens in AI interfaces but conversion remains within merchant-controlled channels.

Source: Source: Search Engine Land, Wired

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