{
  "id": 18244037,
  "title": "AI shopping agents could threaten Amazon and Walmart’s ad business",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/05/ai-shopping-agents-could-threaten-amazon-and-walmarts-ad-business",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-05T03:58:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/ai-shopping-agents-could-threaten-amazon-and-walmarts-ad-business-10951458/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Advanced AI shopping agents are raising concerns for major retailers like Walmart and Amazon - how to allow AI agents to shop on their platforms without endangering their significant ad revenue and the valuable customer data that sustains it. The two retail behemoths dominate the US retail media market, controlling 88% of the $74.4 billion market, according to Emarketer. But AI-powered agents like Meta's Muse could soon disrupt this lucrative industry. Morgan Stanley projects these agents could account for 10-20% of US e-commerce spending by 2030.\n\nAmazon and Walmart are pursuing divergent strategies. Amazon has blocked Muse, while Walmart has partnered with Meta's agentic tool. For now, there's no significant impact on Amazon ad revenue from third-party agents, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. However, Amazon's third-quarter ad revenue growth slowed to its weakest pace in nearly four years. Advertising currently accounts for about 10% of total net sales.\n\nAmazon banned Muse from its site in September, citing unauthorized access of customer credentials. Meta has declined to comment. Amazon has also sought to block Perplexity's shopping agent Comet, though a court overturned the ban in August. The case remains ongoing.\n\nWalmart, on the other hand, has implemented infrastructure to support third-party agentic commerce. When shoppers use an AI agent to browse, Walmart creates a profile for the agent linked to the shopper's Walmart account. Consumers can approve purchases or set spending limits. Walmart CFO John David Rainey noted that advertising, which includes Walmart Connect, accounts for 45% of quarterly operating income growth. Walmart does not separately disclose Walmart Connect figures in earnings releases. Dan Marc, CEO of retail media platform Footprints AI, expects major retailers to sign long-term ad deals with brands to secure revenues and expects discounts on digital retail media ads as shoppers increasingly rely on AI tools.\n\nMorningstar analyst Brett Husslein views this as an evolution rather than an existential threat for retail media. Brands are expected to spend even more on retail media in 2026, according to Emarketer forecasts. Walmart has begun testing ads within its AI shopping chatbot Sparky, while Amazon has integrated ads in its AI shopping assistant Alexa for Shopping. Advertising for bots may focus more on specific product data matching customer queries rather than visual elements. Retailers like Procter & Gamble, Nestle, and L'Oréal are working to make product information easily accessible for AI agents. While retail media currently drives the majority of sales volume for brands, experts advise clients to prepare for evolving discovery and purchase decisions.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "CNA - Business",
        "title": "Analysis:AI shopping agents could threaten Amazon and Walmart's ad business",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/04/analysis-ai-shopping-agents-could-threaten-amazon-and-walmarts-ad",
        "published": "2026-11-04T13:05:19.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Daily Times",
        "title": "AI shopping agents threaten Amazon, Walmart ads",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/04/ai-shopping-agents-threaten-amazon-walmart-ads",
        "published": "2026-11-04T20:30:22.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}