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As Amazon blocks AI agents from shopping on its site, Walmart is taking the opposite approach, introducing new technology that lets AI agents make purchases on customers' behalf, with controls over spending and transaction approvals. Walmart is embracing agentic commerce with the launch of its own Agent Gateway to manage transactions and other new features aimed at customers using AI agents, the retailer announced on Wednesday. The move comes shortly after Walmart’s top competitor, Amazon, began blocking AI agents from making purchases on behalf of online shoppers.
Walmart is embracing agentic commerce with the launch of its own Agent Gateway to manage transactions and other new features aimed at customers using AI agents, the retailer announced on Wednesday. The move comes shortly after Walmart’s top competitor, Amazon, began blocking AI agents from making purchases on behalf of online shoppers.
The company’s embrace of AI technology differentiates it from other online businesses, including not only Amazon but also various travel and booking sites, which have responded to the growing consumer adoption of AI agents by locking them out of their websites completely . Walmart, on the other hand, had already announced a partnership with a leading agent in the space, Meta’s Muse, and offers integrations with popular AI apps like ChatGPT, Gemini, and others.
Now, it’s expanding on those efforts with more technology to prepare for a world where AI agents become mainstream, said Walmart President and CEO John Furner, speaking at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. The technology will support agentic shopping from both Walmart and the company’s discount warehouse, Sam’s Club.
The Agent Profiles will be created the first time you use a given agent to shop through the Walmart Agent Gateway, the company notes. To get started, you’ll authorize and link the Agent Profile to your Walmart account, then set your controls or spending limits. You can also delete an Agent Profile at any time. Agent support is available for anyone with a Walmart account; a Walmart+ membership is not necessary.
It starts with Walmart’s Agent Gateway, the company’s new MCP server, which is designed to help approved agents connect to Walmart over the model context protocol (MCP). The protocol, originally created by Anthropic, allows AI agents to connect to external data sources, tools, and other workflows. In this case, it lets an AI agent search across Walmart’s online inventory and make purchases on behalf of the agent’s user.
What’s more, the retailer says that its Agent Gateway will be able to help customers shop for their usual brands or items without having to share their personal information or purchase history directly with the agent.
The company has also developed new technology to differentiate an agent’s purchases from those initiated directly by the customer, and to give shoppers more control over what their agents can and cannot do.
As Amazon blocks AI agents from shopping on its site, Walmart is taking the opposite approach, introducing new technology that lets AI agents make purchases on customers' behalf, with controls over spending and transact Reported by TechCrunch AI on October 21, 2026.