As artificial intelligence continues transforming an array of industries, Walmart and Amazon are competing to harness generative AI to enhance their retail operations and customer experiences.
Both are using the technology to gain a competitive edge, but their approaches highlight distinct strategies and priorities. Walmart, for instance, is focused on how the technology can affect the shopper journey. On an earnings call Thursday (Aug. 15), CEO Doug McMillon underscored the importance of AI in refining the retailer’s extensive product catalog.
“We’re finding tangible ways to leverage generative AI to improve the customer, member and associate experience,” McMillon said. “We’re leveraging data and large language models from others and building our own. One example is that we’ve used generative AI to improve our product catalog.”
By using multiple large language models, Walmart has enriched over 850 million catalog data points, a task that would otherwise demand a costly labor investment. This technological upgrade is not merely about data volume but enhancing data quality, which directly influences everything from inventory management to the accuracy of customer searches.
In addition to optimizing catalog data, Walmart has applied AI to improve the in-store and online shopping experience. The retailer implemented AI-powered search functionalities on its platforms and is rolling out a new shopping assistant.
“[The assistant] provides advice and ideas, answering questions like which TV is best for watching sports,” McMillon said. “Looking ahead, the assistant will be able to respond with more specific follow-up questions like how’s the lighting in the room where you’ll place the TV.”
Walmart is also exploring generative AI’s potential to support its marketplace sellers. The retailer is testing a new tool that allows sellers to interact with Walmart’s system more effectively, streamlining queries and providing concise answers. This initiative aims to minimize the time sellers spend navigating complex information, letting them focus more on sales and growth.
Amazon, meanwhile, is upgrading its generative AI for its Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers. The launch of Amazon Titan Image Generator v2 in select regions, part of Amazon Bedrock, aims to provide enhanced control and flexibility in image creation, incorporating features such as image conditioning, subject consistency and background removal.
“This powerful tool streamlines workflows, boosts productivity and brings creative visions to life,” Channy Yun, principal developer advocate for AWS, said in a blog post.
The new version of the technology allows users to guide image generation with reference images, providing control over visual characteristics such as edges and object placement, refining users’ ability to create content that aligns with specific branding or artistic visions.
Additionally, the model’s background removal capabilities are meant to allow more seamless integration of foreground objects into new contexts. By providing tools that facilitate intricate image manipulations and maintain subject consistency, Amazon is catering to both practical and creative needs in content creation.
Generative AI has a considerable way to go. The PYMNTS Intelligence study “The 2024 CAIO Report: Are CMOs Missing GenAI’s Potential?” found that only 20% of enterprises use generative AI in the most strategic and impactful ways, according to these firms’ chief marketing officers. However, 78% have at least one high-impact application of AI.
Eighty percent of chief marketing officers reported believing that generative AI is very or extremely important to the customer experience, to Walmart’s point, and 70% said the same of product marketing, to Amazon’s. On average, chief marketing officers said they believe it will be 6.4 years before generative AI is fully embedded in their organizations.
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