Business News Tech AI AI shopping agents could threaten Amazon and Walmart's ad business
Retail powerhouses Walmart and Amazon are also the world's two largest retail media businesses, dominating the estimated $74.4 billion in US retail media spending with a combined 88% share of that market, according to projections from data firm Emarketer. But digital assistants could soon disrupt that business.
The rise of AI-led shopping is posing a conundrum for retailers like Walmart and Amazon : how to enable AI agents to shop on their websites, without threatening their lucrative advertising revenue and the customer data that fuels it. Retail powerhouses Walmart and Amazon are also the world's two largest retail media businesses, dominating the estimated $74.4 billion in US retail media spending with a combined 88% share of that market, according to projections from data firm Emarketer. But digital assistants could soon disrupt that business. AI-powered agents that can research and purchase products on consumers' behalf - like Meta's recently released Muse - could erode the highly profitable business of brands paying retailers to promote products on their websites and apps. Morgan Stanley researchers said in July these agents could account for 10% to 20% of US e-commerce spending by 2030.
Amazon and Walmart are taking different approaches to agentic AI shopping. Amazon has blocked Muse, while Walmart is officially partnering with Meta's agentic tool. So far, there is no meaningful effect yet on Amazon ads from third-party agents, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last week. However, the company's 11% year-over-year growth in advertising revenue for the third quarter was its slowest pace of growth in nearly four years, LSEG data show.
Source link







