Walmart is reaping early rewards from its AI chatbot Sparky, which has attracted millions of users and lifted average spend among shoppers who engage with it.
Launched in June 2025, the chatbot is designed to help users discover products, receive personalised recommendations, and automate shopping tasks. It is one of the first AI chatbots introduced by a traditional retailer and forms part of Walmart’s broader push to reposition itself from a pure retail player into a tech-enabled commerce giant.
According to Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey on the company’s most recent earnings call, customers who engage with Sparky have an average order value 35% higher than those who do not. Around half of Walmart app users have interacted with the chatbot at least once, although the company has not disclosed how many use it daily.
“Simply put, Sparky is helping customers find the things they need,” said Rainey. “It’s strengthening our digital unit economics as it scales.”
Walmart has not disclosed which large language model underpins Sparky. In a July announcement about simplifying shopping and operations through AI agents, the retailer made clear it is investing heavily in AI development, though it may still rely on an underlying model such as OpenAI’s GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, or Google’s Gemini.
Given Walmart’s more closed ecosystem, Sparky may not operate at the same scale as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, which scrape data across the wider web. However, that approach could reduce friction with third-party suppliers, an issue Amazon has faced after expanding AI scraping tools tied to its Shop Direct feature.
The company has said it plans to roll out the chatbot globally across its retail brands and services in the near future.
Walmart’s major investment in AI
Alongside developing its own retail AI tools, Walmart has struck agreements with both OpenAI and Google to ensure its products are featured and easily searchable within ChatGPT and Gemini.
“We’re approaching AI development through partnerships,” said Rainey. “This lets tech companies do what they do best — develop innovative technology — and gives us the clarity to do what we do best: translate the best of tech into retail experiences.”
In October last year, Walmart announced its agreement with OpenAI, a move that helped push its market capitalisation from around $850 billion to briefly above $1 trillion for the first time in February.
More tech investments
AI is not the only emerging technology Walmart is backing. The company recently announced an expansion of its Wing drone delivery service to 150 additional US stores, bringing the total to 270 locations serving 40 million customers by 2027.
As with generative AI, Walmart has accelerated its commitment to drone delivery over the past year, keen to position itself as a technology-first company rather than simply a retailer. Active Wing customers, like Sparky users, tend to spend more per order and shop more frequently.
Also read: AI across retail operations is becoming a competitive baseline as vendors bake intelligence into planning and fulfilment.