Walmart is pulling back from OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature inside ChatGPT after internal data showed conversion rates were roughly three times lower than transactions completed on its own website, as reported by Wired.
The shift marks an early stress test for the agentic shopping model that drew industry attention when the companies partnered in October. According to CNBC, OpenAI is now reworking Instant Checkout in favor of a more merchant-controlled architecture, reflecting growing concern among retailers about handing over the transaction layer to AI platforms.
Chat-Based Checkout Falls Short
As reported by PYMNTS, Walmart joined Instant Checkout in October to let ChatGPT users purchase roughly 200,000 items without leaving the chat interface. OpenAI built the system with Stripe through what it described as the Agentic Commerce Protocol, aiming to pass order details, payment credentials and shipping preferences in a seamless handoff.
The experience did not perform as expected. Daniel Danker, Walmart’s executive vice president of AI acceleration, product and design, told Wired that conversion rates inside ChatGPT reached only about one-third of Walmart’s native channels and called the experience “unsatisfying.”
CNBC reported that the feature offered a limited product selection months after launch and did not always display current item information. The design of the interface created additional friction. Walmart excluded high-consideration purchases such as televisions because the chat flow could not support bundling and accessory recommendations. The linear, single-query format did not match the multi-item basket behavior that drives order value on Walmart’s own platforms.
Shoppers also hesitated at checkout. Customers who typically complete purchases within Walmart’s ecosystem encountered an unfamiliar payment flow inside a third-party interface. Gartner analyst Bob Hetu told CNBC that OpenAI “underestimated how difficult the enablement of transactions was going to be.”
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Walmart Moves Sparky Into ChatGPT
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Walmart is now replacing Instant Checkout with a model that keeps control inside its own systems. Walmart will soon deploy its in-house assistant, Sparky, inside ChatGPT. Danker said the company plans to extend a similar integration to Google’s Gemini.
Under this structure, users interact with Sparky inside ChatGPT but log directly into their Walmart accounts. Walmart keeps control of the underlying systems. The company synchronizes shopping carts across its website, mobile app and ChatGPT, allowing purchases to reflect ongoing shopping behavior rather than a single session. Walmart continues to run checkout entirely on its own infrastructure.
The Information reported that this shift complicates OpenAI’s enterprise strategy, which initially positioned the platform as owning the transaction layer. The revised model shifts that control back to merchants. OpenAI provides discovery and distribution, while retailers retain the cart, customer identity, loyalty data and transaction economics.
Early internal data shows the new model performing better. Sparky inside ChatGPT is converting at roughly 70% of Walmart.com’s rate, a significant improvement over Instant Checkout, though the figures remain preliminary. Danker told Wired that Walmart is bringing its store directly to the customer rather than routing customers through a disconnected checkout flow.
Retailers Reclaim Control
Walmart’s disclosure provides one of the first publicly reported performance benchmarks from a major retailer testing AI-driven commerce. The results are already influencing how the broader ecosystem approaches AI shopping.
Shopify told CNBC it will no longer support native checkout inside ChatGPT and will instead route transactions back to merchant storefronts. Etsy confirmed to CNBC that the company is building a dedicated ChatGPT app to maintain control over its shopping experience. OpenAI said it is focusing on product discovery and search, where user engagement has been stronger than transaction completion.
Amazon is taking a different path by keeping AI commerce tightly integrated within its own ecosystem. The company continues to expand tools such as its Rufus shopping assistant and “Buy for Me” agent, while also rolling out features like “Shop Direct,” which allow customers to browse and purchase items beyond Amazon’s core marketplace. Rather than relying on third-party AI interfaces, Amazon is embedding discovery, recommendation and transaction flows within its own platform, reinforcing control over the full shopping journey.
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