Walmart, Amazon, and Target all cited AI-driven shopping tools as a measurable sales driver in their latest quarterly earnings, with early data showing bigger baskets and higher spending per order. The numbers are real, but they come almost entirely from grocery and household staples - categories where predicting repeat purchases is easiest.
Walmart's global eCommerce grew 23% in the quarter, and shoppers using its AI assistant Sparky spend 40% more per order. CEO John Furner said total Sparky users are up 70% year over year.
Amazon reported a similar pattern after merging its AI tools into a single assistant, Alexa for Shopping, in May. More than 350 million shoppers have used it in the past year, active users nearly doubled, and U.S. customers who use it spend 40% more per order, CEO Andy Jassy said.
AI's early wins in retail
Target made the same case this week. Digital traffic from external AI platforms is growing more than three and a half times faster than the industry average, CEO Michael Fiddelke said, citing partnerships with companies like OpenAI.
"While still small in total today, as more consumers begin to explore the benefits of agentic shopping, Target's digital traffic sourced from external AI platforms is growing," Fiddelke said.
Target is also pushing AI inside its own app. AI-powered teacher and college wish lists saw creation volume jump more than 50% ahead of the back-to-school season.
Albertsons reported a 10% increase in average order value when customers use its conversational search and a 26% bump when they use its assistants that match recipes to dietary preferences. These grocery wins are easier for AI - the tool predicts what a shopper already needs rather than discovering new items.
Discovery-driven retail tells a different story
Companies built around browsing and discovery, where shoppers aren't repeating a purchase, show AI's limits. TJX parent of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, reported comparable sales growth of 4%, but its earnings call centered on merchandising, not AI. The company's model relies on in-store treasure-hunt shopping, which is the hardest use case for an AI assistant to replicate.
Etsy shows the constraint from the other direction. Agentic traffic grew roughly 15 times year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025, yet it remained less than 1% of total traffic as of its most recent quarter. Etsy's one-of-a-kind items are the type of purchase a shopper wasn't searching for by name, and AI's share there is small despite rapid growth.
For AI for Sales professionals, the gap between repeat purchases and discovery matters. The data shows AI can increase spending per order in predictable, recurring categories. What remains untested is whether AI will push real dollars through in browsing-heavy categories where the customer doesn't even have a shopping list.
Beyond research
Consumers are already comfortable using AI for the research part of shopping. A July PYMNTS Intelligence report found that 38% of AI users compared prices across retailers with the technology, and 36% used it to find deals. The same report found that 36% were willing to use AI for repeat purchases, but the willingness drops for larger, more considered purchases.
The same pattern shows up in what people say they'd delegate. The January PYMNTS Intelligence report "From Assistive to Agentic AI" found that 49% of people interested in agentic AI would let an assistant complete both routine and larger purchases. But the retailers' numbers this quarter tested that willingness almost entirely in the consumer staples side of the store.
Shopify's data offers the clearest sign that AI can work beyond repeat purchases. Its AI-referred traffic and orders each tripled year over year, all while its share of sales outside the largest product categories has held steady since 2025, meaning AI is already driving niche purchases on its platform.
The broader tests - whether the 40% lift per order holds when the shopper buys a non-repeating item, an off-shelf discovery or an occasion-specific purchase - haven't been proven yet. The numbers out of Walmart, Amazon, and Target are all real signs that consumers are more comfortable with AI-assisted shopping than most expected a year ago.
Why this matters for sales professionals
If AI assistance boosts baskets and per-order spending in grocery but doesn't yet convert in discovery categories, your sales strategy will differ by product. Build a defined list into AI workflow tools for your repeat-sell SKUs and suggestions. For discretionary ranges, treat AI as a research accelerator, not a conversion engine - and keep merchandising partnerships for those categories until the numbers show otherwise.
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