Walmart expands agentic shopping tools as AI commerce competition intensifies

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Walmart expands AI shopping tools

Highlights

Walmart launches Agent Gateway, enabling approved AI agents to search its inventory and make purchases for customers without sharing personal information.
Agent Profiles, rolling out next month, will let users set spending limits, authorize individual AI agents, and review agent-initiated purchases separately within their Walmart account.
Walmart diverges from rivals like Amazon by welcoming AI agents, introducing strict operational terms and maintaining standard returns even for purchases made by agents.

Agent gateway rollout and customer controls

As reported by TechCrunch, Walmart announces a broader push into agentic commerce with the launch of its Agent Gateway, a new MCP server designed to let approved AI agents connect to the retailer and complete purchases for users.

The system uses the model context protocol, originally created by Anthropic, to help agents connect to external tools and data sources. In Walmart’s case, that means an AI agent can search the retailer’s online inventory and buy items for a customer, while the company says shoppers can still purchase usual brands or products without directly sharing personal information or purchase history with the agent.

Walmart says it has also built technology to separate agent-made purchases from orders placed directly by the customer. With Agent Profiles, which are rolling out next month, users can authorize each AI agent through a dedicated profile in their Walmart account, review those purchases separately, and choose whether every transaction needs approval or whether agents can buy within a preset spending limit.

The retailer compares the setup to adding an authorized user to a credit card, where transactions remain identifiable and spending can be capped. Customers create an Agent Profile the first time they use an agent through the Walmart Agent Gateway, then link it to their account, set controls, and delete the profile at any time if needed. Walmart says the feature is available to anyone with a Walmart account, without requiring a Walmart+ membership.

Competitive split in online retail AI strategy

Walmart’s move comes as other online businesses, including Amazon and several travel and booking platforms, are restricting AI agents from operating on their sites. The retailer is positioning itself differently by building infrastructure for agent-based shopping as adoption of AI assistants grows.

Speaking at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, Walmart President and CEO John Furner says the company is preparing for a future in which AI agents become mainstream. Walmart had already signaled that direction through its partnership with Meta’s Muse and integrations with apps such as ChatGPT and Gemini, and the latest tools extend that strategy to both Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Walmart is also introducing specific terms for AI agents that define how they may operate and what rights they have to transact on its platform. The company says its standard returns process still applies, including cases where an agent does not act as intended, a policy that could reduce customer concerns about using automated shopping tools early.

Under those terms, agents cannot take actions beyond a shopper’s instructions, cannot access customer payment information, and may only use the data needed for the assigned task. Walmart says agents that fail to comply with those requirements will be blocked from the site.

Our earlier article on AI agents highlighted a KPMG survey showing many large U.S. companies are already seeing efficiency and growth gains, even though few CEOs consider the technology truly transformational yet. It also noted that organizations expect continued hiring, retraining, and sustained investment in AI infrastructure as they adapt processes for more autonomous systems.

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