In June 2025, Walmart announced Sparky, an AI assistant to answer questions for customers. While chatbots help customers on many sites, Walmart is focusing on making its AI agent more convenient, personalized, and contextual.
To confirm Sparky’s success, new Walmart CEO John Furner shared during the fourth-quarter earnings call that customers using Sparky had 35% higher order values than those who didn’t.
What Does Sparky Do?
When browsing Walmart’s mobile app, Sparky appears at the bottom as a smiley face. By clicking on Sparky, you can locate specific items, summarize reviews, and learn more about upcoming events to help you decide what to buy. Your queries could be as simple as asking for sweaters in your size or more complex like asking for the weather at a specific beach.
Currently, you can only access Sparky if you live in the U.S. and are signed into your Walmart account. Once you’re logged in, it’s easy to ask the AI questions to make your shopping experience quick and customized. Walmart merchants get access to their own AI tool called Wally.
Like all AI agents, Sparky is designed to be as accurate as possible, but it’s not perfect. Mistakes can occur, so Walmart encourages customers to provide feedback as they use Sparky so the company knows what areas of improvement to focus on.
Why is Walmart’s AI so Successful?
Sparky stands out from most shopping chatbots because it’s agentic rather than passive. Instead of just answering questions, it can make plans, add items to your cart, and give personalized advice. It not only helps you find what you need faster, but it makes checkout more convenient than ever. People using Sparky are more likely to make big purchases because they can find everything they need right in the AI chat.
“Sparky is essentially helping us evolve from traditional search to intent-driven commerce,” said Walmart U.S. president and CEO David Guggina. “From an economic standpoint, better discovery and higher conversion translates into bigger baskets and greater frequency. Sparky is helping customers find the things they need, they want and they love, and it’s strengthening our digital unit economics as it scales.”
Walmart has found that layering AI on top of existing assets enhances them. Sparky is constantly learning new skills that not only help customers but also help the company understand their shoppers better. Walmart is working with OpenAI and Google rather than focusing on its own AI capabilities because this approach “lets tech companies do what they do best.”
AI Enhances Shopping Experiences
People turn to AI every day to get product suggestions and make purchases. If you’re not using AI chatbots or AI optimization to increase the ways users can find your products, you could be missing out on crucial sales.
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