A new PYMNTS Intelligence report shows consumers use AI to compare prices and find deals but keep final purchase decisions in their own hands, with implications for Amazon and Walmart.
When consumers prepare for a major shopping event, many now start with an AI tool that compares prices, surfaces promotions and explains product features across multiple merchants. They do not, however, hand over the final decision.
That pattern comes from a new PYMNTS Intelligence report, “The Overlap Effect: How Amazon and Walmart Expanded the Crowd and Shrank the Basket.” The report focuses on the first overlap between Amazon Prime Day and Walmart Deals. It also tracks how artificial intelligence has changed the way shoppers approach these events.
AI sees its strongest use in tasks that save time and simplify comparisons. Shoppers turn over repetitive, data-heavy work to software. They keep subjective decisions – which style they prefer, whether a purchase fits their budget – in their own hands. The report describes the dynamic as similar to a wedding photographer removing every picture where someone is blinking, then letting the client pick the keepers. The tedious work happens without being asked. The final choice stays personal.
The influence of AI was strongest among younger shoppers and financially strained consumers, the report found. Those groups have the greatest incentive to stretch every dollar. At the same time, Amazon and Walmart still captured the transaction even as product discovery increasingly occurred elsewhere.
That creates an opening for retailers that integrate AI rather than compete against it, the report suggests. As these tools improve, retailers that provide accurate product information, competitive pricing and clear value propositions will be positioned to meet consumers wherever their shopping journey begins.
Amazon and Walmart together account for a large share of U.S. eCommerce. Amazon held about 38% of online retail spending in 2024, according to eMarketer. Walmart captured roughly 7%. Both companies have invested heavily in AI for logistics, recommendations and search. The report implies that those investments may matter less for discovery than for conversion, since shoppers increasingly arrive at a retailer’s site already informed by an external AI tool.
The report did not name specific AI tools. But the category includes chatbots like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and specialized shopping assistants from startups such as Perplexity and Klarna. The broader trend is that product search is fragmenting away from retailer-owned platforms.
For investors, the read-through is that retailers with strong logistics, competitive pricing and transparent product data are better positioned than those that rely on proprietary search traffic. The report’s finding also suggests that AI adoption in shopping is not a binary shift. Consumers are selective about where they let the technology in. The final purchase decision remains human.
The PYMNTS Intelligence report is based on a survey of roughly 4,000 U.S. consumers conducted in July 2024.
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