ChatGPT Drives Huge Traffic To Walmart As Amazon Builds Walls

Generative AI, particularly ChatGPT, is rapidly becoming a significant force in online retail, channeling a new stream of shoppers to major retailers like Walmart, Target, Etsy, and eBay. However, e-commerce giant Amazon is conspicuously absent from this trend, choosing instead to forge its own path.

The Rise of AI in Retail Referrals

Recent data from web analytics firm Similarweb highlights this dramatic shift. In August, an astonishing one in five of Walmart’s referral clicks originated from ChatGPT, marking a 15% increase from the previous month. Other major retailers are also reaping the benefits, with ChatGPT now accounting for over 20% of Etsy's referral traffic, nearly 15% for Target, and 10% for eBay.

While referral traffic is still a minor portion of a retailer's overall site visits compared to direct traffic or traditional search engines, the rapid growth of AI-driven referrals signals a fundamental change in consumer shopping habits. Shoppers are increasingly using AI chat responses for product discovery, a role historically dominated by Google. This trend could have massive implications for brands, especially as platforms like ChatGPT explore enabling in-app checkouts.

A new study by OpenAI’s research team and a Harvard economist found that approximately 2% of all ChatGPT queries, or about 50 million per day, are shopping-related. Users frequently ask for product recommendations, indicating that AI is becoming a go-to tool for product research. This is supported by an Omnisend survey, which found that nearly 60% of U.S. consumers have used generative AI for online shopping assistance.

Independent analyst Juozas Kaziukėnas noted in a LinkedIn post that this trend is a logical outcome of the widespread adoption of AI tools. “We know that everyone’s using ChatGPT... So that should be reflected in the traffic a bunch of websites are getting, and that’s what the data seems to confirm,” he stated.

Amazon's Defensive Play with Rufus

The surge in AI-driven traffic to Walmart and others is amplified by Amazon's strategic decision to block AI crawlers. As previously reported, Amazon has restricted ChatGPT from accessing its real-time product data. This move protects its vast e-commerce dataset and its powerful $56 billion advertising business, which relies on shoppers browsing its site. Consequently, referral traffic from ChatGPT to Amazon dropped to less than 3% in August.

Instead of participating in the third-party AI ecosystem, Amazon is investing heavily in its proprietary AI shopping assistant, Rufus. Rufus is integrated into Amazon's search bar and has a dedicated chat interface where the company has even started to incorporate ads. By the end of last year, customers had already asked Rufus over half a billion questions.

This differing strategy has significant consequences. While Amazon walls off its 600 million product listings, Walmart's 420 million SKUs are gaining prominence in AI chat results. Unlike Amazon, Walmart appears open to a future with third-party AI shopping agents. Walmart U.S. CTO Hari Vasudev told The Wall Street Journal that he anticipates the industry will develop common standards for these agents to interact with retailers' systems.

The Future of AI Shopping and Monetization

Currently, retailers are benefiting from this wave of free traffic, but this is unlikely to last. The Financial Times reported that OpenAI is developing a checkout system within ChatGPT. With millions of shopping-related queries daily, OpenAI has a strong incentive to monetize this activity through transaction fees, advertising, or affiliate links.

“This traffic will not be free in the future,” Kaziukėnas warns, a sentiment echoed by brand executives. The immense computational cost of running AI technology necessitates a clear path to profitability. A Bain & Co. report projects a significant revenue gap for the industry by 2030, reinforcing the need for monetization.

In response, agencies are already helping brands adapt. Max Sinclair, founder of Azoma, says his firm helps clients track and increase traffic from both ChatGPT and Rufus, noting that customers have seen a sevenfold increase in visits from ChatGPT on average.

Whether or not fully autonomous AI shopping agents become mainstream, the initial stages of this evolution are already reshaping e-commerce. As Kaziukėnas puts it, “At the start of that range is just links in chat responses... And we are very close to that start right now... it will be disruptive by itself.”