The Battle for AI-Powered Shopping

Agentic AI is poised to reshape e-commerce, with projections showing AI-driven sales reaching 1.5% of US retail e-commerce in 2025. Walmart has embraced the shift through partnerships with OpenAI and Google, while Amazon maintains a defensive posture by blocking third-party chatbots. The divergence reflects fundamentally different strategic calculations about customer relationships, retail media revenues worth nearly $200 billion annually, and the future of online shopping.