Walmart Pulled Sparky Into ChatGPT: Why Checkout Has to Stay Brand-Owned
Reports from March 2026 said Walmart's early purchases through ChatGPT's Instant Checkout converted at roughly a third of Walmart's own site rate. After embedding its Sparky assistant directly into ChatGPT instead, conversion recovered to about 70% of on-site levels. Without Walmart's resources to build a Sparky-like agent, here's what mid-size cross-border sellers and DTC brands can actually do to protect checkout-stage conversion.