I’ve been running e-commerce systems for 30 years (tech, marketing, etc). This was going to fail from the start for one reason: intent.

Most people using AI chat are exploring ideas and solutions. They’re doodling, not shopping. Or in old timey parlance, they’re looky-loos or tire kickers at best.

Anyone who’s had to justify ad spend in e-commerce can tell you that some sources produce huge traffic with absolutely terrible conversion. Reddit and Pinterest pretty much blow for this reason, with limited exceptions. It’s also why TikTok and other influencer platforms really work.

Conversion requires a mental shift from discovery to demand.

Also, really hate summaries like this without the actual source so here are the main points from the actual source (WIRED https://archive.is/7DuEV):

1. Instant Checkout inside ChatGPT performed poorly, with conversion about one-third of Walmart’s normal site.

2. The experience failed largely because it forced single-item purchases instead of letting users build a cart.

3. Walmart is shifting to embedding its own assistant, Sparky, inside ChatGPT and keeping checkout on its own system.

4. ChatGPT is still valuable because it’s driving significantly more new customer traffic than search.

5. Purchases that did work were mostly practical, problem-solving items like supplements and tools.

6. Fully automated “agentic shopping” is still unlikely in the near term because people want control over purchases.

7. OpenAI is moving away from in-chat checkout and focusing on helping users research while merchants handle transactions.

In short, AI is useful for discovery, but traditional e-commerce flows still outperform it at closing sales.

▲

RA_Fisher 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I use AI to shop and it seems easy for an AI to understand when that’s the case (they can do statistics and physics after all).

	▲	hownottowrite 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sure, I use it for that too. But we’re also talking about most people. Your average Walmart customer is not going to be your average HN reader.

▲

martinald 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Would be interesting to know for other retailers though and how much of this is down to what Walmart sells?

I'm confused by the comment that it failed because it forced single item purchases. Most of my "ecommerce" use is researching and buying one item at a time.

	▲	hownottowrite 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think in large part the average Walmart consumer does not shop like the average Amazon consumer. They load up a big cart over time rather than pull the trigger on lots of smaller, convenience-driven purchases. So Walmart is going to view a smaller cart size as a potential failure primarily because their operations are not optimized the same way that Amazon is.
	▲	TeMPOraL 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It's a failure for e-commerce vendors because it's a spectacular success for shoppers, and the relationship between sellers and buyers is almost always adversarial.