Name: Widlitz: Walmart already negotiating vendor contracts with AI
Uploaded: 2026-01-12T17:29:29.480Z
Duration: 2 min 51 s
Description: Stacey Widlitz, President at SW Retail Advisors, says AI is reshaping retail as Walmart and Amazon lead adoption, shopping agents threaten discovery and impulse buys, and smaller brands struggle to keep up with technology-driven shifts.

Stacey Widlitz, President at SW Retail Advisors, says AI is reshaping retail as Walmart and Amazon lead adoption, shopping agents threaten discovery and impulse buys, and smaller brands struggle to keep up with technology-driven shifts.

Walmart has emerged as a leading example in the retail sector by utilizing artificial intelligence to negotiate vendor contracts and automate routine employee tasks. This adoption allows staff to focus more on customer-facing roles and introduces new customer tools, such as AI-powered shopping recommendations based on budget.

Industry experts note that while large retailers like Walmart and Amazon are poised to benefit from AI-driven shopping agents, smaller brands face challenges due to limited budgets and resources. The rise of AI in retail is expected to reduce traditional marketing and impulse purchases, posing new challenges for brands that rely on these strategies.

Widlitz: Walmart already negotiating vendor contracts with AI

So obviously shows about retail are there certain things that you're really looking at like is a I going to be a big theme of this year show. Not surprising. Frank it is about retail. But yesterday when the show kicked off it was very much about A.I. and how do you apply it for the for the average retailer. You know 95 percent of the experiments or A.I. tests that retailers implement don't go to adoption. They fail. So it was all about trying to figure out what's usable. And I think Wal-Mart's one of the best examples. You know you look at what they're doing. They're negotiating vendor contracts through A.I. you're able to type in and say I'm having a party and I want to spend 200 bucks. It's going to tell you what you need. So they're really taking away the tasks of the employees that can do customer facing things going forward. And I think you know we're also talking a lot about in the future. Are we just going to have shopping agents for us. And what does that mean. And that's really on the horizon. All right. So the idea of shopping agents are I would imagine that might change consumer behavior. Once you insert technology in the idea of using A.I. how are companies talking about that and preparing for that. I think companies are really scared because if you think about it if I tell my shopping agent I need detergent I need to clean my clothes it's going to go out. It's going to find the best price the highest algorithm the best reviews. And what does that mean. That means default right. We're at Amazon and we're at Walmart. So that's going to make the bigger and the stronger retails even more impactful and rise to the top as your agent goes out in the market for you. It also removes discovery. So for a lot of the brands you think about traditional push marketing traditional inspiration shopping it removes a lot of that. So it's a real challenge when you think about basket size and impulse purchasing. All right. As we look at this new world when it comes to retail with A.I. infused shopping you mentioned Walmart and Amazon as the winners. I think we have to talk about the companies that you see not benefiting from it since you're seeing those two as clear winners. Well I think you know obviously the smaller brands have a limited budget. So it's harder for them to implement and test a lot of this technology. And obviously you've seen Walmart really go full force. You've seen Target pull back in some areas where I could be very useful to them. Right. Because we've seen problems with inventory management stocking shelves. We've seen a lot of the big brands have very successful marketing campaigns but we've also seen them have big inventory missteps like an American Eagle at the beginning of last year. So it's about how do you do both. And a lot of terms of the fashion brands still haven't figured it out. They haven't figured out how to use A.I. to really manage their inventory. But that is absolutely on the horizon.

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