Sam’s Club is excited to continue to transform the online shopping experience for our members. To start, they’re rolling out pioneering agentic shopping experiences that will fundamentally transform how consumers shop online. This new user-facing capability, built alongside OpenAI, is designed to assist members in meal planning and restocking essentials more efficiently. The feature is slated to be released in the coming months this fall and will include products sold by third-party sellers on Amazon’s marketplace.
This new agentic shopping capability allows Sam’s Club members to converse with a new, AI-assisted shopping assistant. We think this interaction really makes it easy for them to find new things. It’s a big moment for what e-commerce could be. We’re shifting from old-fashioned approaches that focus almost exclusively on search boxes and long lists of products.
Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart, expressed enthusiasm for the forthcoming changes:
“For many years now, e-commerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses. That is about to change. There is a native AI experience coming that is multimedia, personalized, and contextual. We are running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future with Sparky and through partnerships, including this important step with OpenAI.” – Doug McMillon
Sparky was instrumental in making this a powerful new feature. Its purpose is to increase user interaction and make shopping more direct. The agentic shopping feature starts with personal relevance and context. It strives to provide a fun and user-friendly journey for each member.
Sarah Perez has been a veteran journalist at TechCrunch since August 2011. She frequently writes on emerging trends in technology and e-commerce. Having worked for over three years at ReadWriteWeb, she acquired an in-depth understanding of multiple industries including banking, retail and software. You can reach Sarah by email at sarahp@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at sarahperez.01 on Signal.
The introduction of the agentic shopping feature is an important step for Sam’s Club as it embraces modern technology to better serve its members. The company is using the AI capabilities it developed with the help of OpenAI partners. Their goal is to reset the expectations of how consumers interact with their shopping journeys.
With the launch date quickly approaching, excitement continues to grow among members. Consumers are eager to embrace this new brick-and-mortar store shopping paradigm that’s more immersive, interactive and convenient.
