Chris Walton names Walmart and ChatGPT’s integration as the retail headline of the year. Although the details of the integration are currently "amorphous" and not fully known, Walton explains that it's a significant announcement for several reasons.
First, if the integration with ChatGPT happens, it could potentially hurt Amazon. Walmart has historically been the "third banana" compared to Amazon and Google regarding first product search, and this move gives Walmart an entry into that game. The integration also gives Walmart the "option value" of deciding which products to make available via the Large Language Model (LLM). Chris Walton notes that Walmart has been "very smart" to not allow groceries into that equation right now.
Second, this announcement is important because competitors are "going to be rushing in". Walton believes that many competitors will rush into this space "willy-nilly," possibly without "articulating their long-term strategies inside their boardrooms that well". Ultimately, this move has "open[ed] Pandora's box effectively in terms of how retailers are going to start thinking and interacting with these LLM search engines"
