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Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

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Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#111

Post by TeMPOraL »

martinald wrote: post #103
hownottowrite wrote: post #100

I’ve been running e-commerce systems for 30 years (tech, marketing, etc). This was going to fail from the start for one reason: intent. Most people using AI chat are exploring ideas and solutions. They’re doodling, not shopping. Or in old timey parlance, they’re looky-loos or tire kickers at best. Anyone who’s had to justify ad spend in e-commerce can tell you that some sources produce huge traffic with absolutely te…

Would be interesting to know for other retailers though and how much of this is down to what Walmart sells? I'm confused by the comment that it failed because it forced single item purchases. Most of my "ecommerce" use is researching and buying one item at a time.

It's a failure for e-commerce vendors because it's a spectacular success for shoppers, and the relationship between sellers and buyers is almost always adversarial.

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#112

Post by hownottowrite »

RA_Fisher wrote: post #104
hownottowrite wrote: post #100

I’ve been running e-commerce systems for 30 years (tech, marketing, etc). This was going to fail from the start for one reason: intent. Most people using AI chat are exploring ideas and solutions. They’re doodling, not shopping. Or in old timey parlance, they’re looky-loos or tire kickers at best. Anyone who’s had to justify ad spend in e-commerce can tell you that some sources produce huge traffic with absolutely te…

I use AI to shop and it seems easy for an AI to understand when that’s the case (they can do statistics and physics after all).

Sure, I use it for that too. But we’re also talking about most people. Your average Walmart customer is not going to be your average HN reader.

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#113

Post by [deleted] »

TitaRusell wrote: post #84
janalsncm wrote: post #15

This is from one of the links in the article > Why this is happening. Two forces are slowing agentic commerce, according to Leigh McKenzie, director of online visibility at Semrush: infrastructure and trust. Real-time catalog normalization across tens of millions of SKUs is a decade-scale problem Google already solved with Merchant Center, and consumers still default to checkout flows they trust — Apple Pay, Google W…

What the hell would AI even bring to the table here? Already your favourite e commerce site has all your data. You can switch on the "buy this automatically" feature.

[deleted]

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#114

Post by baggachipz »

bilekas wrote: post #95

ChatGPT Checkout, a solution looking for a problem. Why would anyone have an extra layer of friction too where things could go wrong, where handing over payment details in another chain. Just let me buy my stuff in peace. Shopping is not the 'killer app' for GenAI.

When you're a solution in search of a problem, you'll try to shoehorn your "solution" into everything.

"This isn't what I wanted to buy, I said my feet are a size 10 and these aren't even shoes!"

"You're absolutely right! Shoes go on feet, and each of your 10 feet could wear shoes. Would you like me to research shoes and purchase them for you?"

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#115

Post by no_shadowban_2 »

darthoctopus wrote: post #70
petcat wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not that interested in getting good at it I think they're interested in getting good at it. They just don't want to put in the human time and effort to do so. They expect their many failures and short-comings to be shored up by continuous model training. But that, of course, means that in the meantime it will suck and nobody will use it.

> don't want to put in the human time and effort to do so In most circles, that is "not that interested in getting good at it".

[dead]

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#116

Post by hownottowrite »

martinald wrote: post #103
hownottowrite wrote: post #100

I’ve been running e-commerce systems for 30 years (tech, marketing, etc). This was going to fail from the start for one reason: intent. Most people using AI chat are exploring ideas and solutions. They’re doodling, not shopping. Or in old timey parlance, they’re looky-loos or tire kickers at best. Anyone who’s had to justify ad spend in e-commerce can tell you that some sources produce huge traffic with absolutely te…

Would be interesting to know for other retailers though and how much of this is down to what Walmart sells? I'm confused by the comment that it failed because it forced single item purchases. Most of my "ecommerce" use is researching and buying one item at a time.

I think in large part the average Walmart consumer does not shop like the average Amazon consumer. They load up a big cart over time rather than pull the trigger on lots of smaller, convenience-driven purchases. So Walmart is going to view a smaller cart size as a potential failure primarily because their operations are not optimized the same way that Amazon is.

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#117

Post by no_shadowban_2 »

bilekas wrote: post #95

ChatGPT Checkout, a solution looking for a problem. Why would anyone have an extra layer of friction too where things could go wrong, where handing over payment details in another chain. Just let me buy my stuff in peace. Shopping is not the 'killer app' for GenAI.

[dead]

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#118

Post by throwaway290 »

danlitt wrote: post #51
throwaway290 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> impartial consistent system for shopping > for a lower price Catalog is impartial, chatbot is ads pretending as advice.

I do agree with your conclusion, but the catalog in most online shops is certainly not impartial. Amazon sells the entire first page of search placement, for example.

But we know it and it's obvious.

Re: Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website

#119

Post by throwaway290 »

bko wrote: post #89
throwaway290 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> impartial consistent system for shopping > for a lower price Catalog is impartial, chatbot is ads pretending as advice.

Catalog is impartial? Then why are ~40% of every search I do on Amazon a sponsored product? There is no pure "catalog" especially with cheap crap coming out every day from no-name Chinese labels. Am I the only one that think Amazon has gotten pretty awful in the last 5 years?

You can skip sponsored products
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