Chatbot Cheatsheet: A guide to the AI assistants from Walmart, L’Oréal, Amazon and more

As more people start using generative AI engines in their everyday lives, retailers want to keep consumers within their walled gardens rather than shopping via other platforms.

“About a third of consumers told us they use these agents on at least a regular basis to research brands and products as part of their shopping and decision-making process,” said Rob Garf, head of strategy and insights for Cordial, a marketing and customer-engagement platform for brands. “You might come back and say, ‘Well, that’s two-thirds who don’t,’ but I think it’s important to think about this through the lens of time and adoption; if you asked consumers this question 12 months ago, 18 months ago, it would be nearly zero.”

Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights and strategy for retail and consumer goods at Salesforce, said the company has found 39% of shoppers say they’re using AI search tools or AI chat assistants, and 46% of consumers say they trust the recommendations they’re getting from these assistants.

“The No. 1 reason why shoppers say that they prefer these tools or gravitate to them is because they feel like it gives them the best personalized product recommendations for their unique needs,” Schwartz said. “The other factor is that it’s doing all the research for them. … It’s aggregating all of that information across that product detail page, across that retailer website, across the entire internet.”

It’s still early days for AI assistants, but to help keep track of this fast-changing space, Modern Retail put together a cheatsheet of the different customer-facing AI assistants right now being deployed by some of the biggest brands and retailers in the world, ranging from Walmart to L’Oréal.

Walmart: Sparky

What it is: Sparky lives in a smiling “Ask Sparky” button in the Walmart app. As the company described in a news release in June, the assistant helps customers find items, synthesize reviews and prepare for special occasions, such as by answering what sports teams are playing that night or checking the weather at the beach they’re headed to.

When it launched and where: In June, on Walmart’s mobile app. This was after the company launched an assistant for merchants called Wally in March.

Questions it can answer: “What air fryer is good for a family of five?” “Are these headphones comfortable?” “Is the area rug suitable for homes with pets or children?”

Other uses of AI: Beyond the four agents, Walmart also has AI-powered search in its navigation bar, product review summaries, product descriptions and product comparisons.

What’s still to come: The company said Sparky would be able to automatically reorder household essentials and book services. In addition to Sparky and Wally, Walmart is also developing an agent for tech developers, another for partners dubbed “Developer,” and another for suppliers, advertisers and sellers called “Marty,” which will be able to streamline onboarding, manage orders and create ad campaigns, per Reuters.

What executives are saying: “Agents can help automate and simplify pretty much everything we do,” said Suresh Kumar, Walmart’s chief technology officer, according to Reuters. “Customers are ready; they are using AI in pretty much everything they do.”

Amazon: Rufus

What it is: Rufus is a shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s product catalog and information from across the internet. It answers questions about products and makes recommendations and comparisons.

When it launched and where: Rufus launched in beta in early 2024 and rolled out to all customers in the Amazon Shopping app in July 2024 and on desktop in September 2024.

Questions it can answer: “What are the differences between trail and road running shoes?” “Are these durable?” “What should I consider when buying headphones?”

Other uses of AI: Amazon uses AI-powered capabilities throughout its operations, such as in personalized shopping, pick paths in fulfillment centers, drone deliveries, Alexa and its checkout-free Amazon Go stores.

What’s still to come: Amazon has been testing an AI-powered mapping tool called Wellspring, which uses generative AI to improve delivery location accuracy. The company has also begun implementing a forecasting model that predicts customer demand, and it is building a framework for robots to understand natural language commands.

Target: Shopping Assistant

What it is: An experimental AI assistant found on product pages that shows up on Target’s private-label products when you’re logged into your account.

When it launched and where: During this past holiday season on Target’s website.

Questions it can answer: “Will this shirt shrink in the wash?” “Does this product contain artificial fragrance or dye?”

Other uses of AI: Last holiday season, the company also introduced Bullseye Gift Finder, which provided product recommendations for holiday gifts based on factors such as age, hobbie and favorite brands. Additionally, last summer, the company launched a chatbot for store team members called Store Companion. It has also used AI to improve product display pages for search and to summarize product reviews.

What executives are saying: “Gen AI … can make the experience richer. It also can just be more efficient for us as humans to be able to consume information and make purchase decisions,” Cara Sylvester, Target’s evp and chief guest experience officer, said in the company’s Q4 2024 earnings call in March.

L’Oréal Paris: Beauty Genius

What it is: An AI-powered beauty assistant that offers personalized beauty guidance. That includes personalized skin and hair diagnostics by scanning selfies, recommendations based on annotations from 150,000 dermatologists, information on 750-plus products, AR try-ons and links to its products on major retailers, including Walmart, CVS Pharmacy, Amazon, Walgreens and Kroger.

When it launched and where: In July, on the company’s website and on Whatsapp, only in the U.S. The company expects to bring it to other markets by 2026.

Questions it can answer: “What are the best makeup products for me?” “What is the right skin-care routine for me?” “Which hair products should I use?”

Other uses of AI: L’Oréal also has an acne coaching app with AI-based skin analysis, an AI-powered marketplace startup called Noli, and CreAItech, a generative AI beauty content creation lab used by its marketers to create on-brand images, videos and text.

What executives are saying: “Transformative technologies like AI, gen AI and agentic AI are redefining consumer expectations and disrupting the beauty consumer journey, and so we remain laser-focused on delivering unparalleled consumer engagement with both creativity and technology,” said Asmita Dubey, chief digital and marketing officer of L’Oréal Groupe, on the company’s website.

Guitar Center: Rig Advisor

What it is: An AI shopping assistant used by customers on the store floor to explore and compare gear. Customers can scan a QR code in the store and type in a question, and Rig Advisor recommends products that are in stock at that specific location.

When it launched and where: In July, on the company’s website. It works at all Guitar Centers locations in the U.S.

Questions it can answer: “What kind of guitars would sound like the Foo Fighters?” “Which pedals would go best with this guitar?”

What executives are saying: “More than anything, we needed to make sure the recommendations would be credible to the serious musician, which took a surprising amount of iteration,” Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto told Digital Commerce 360. “Sometimes AIs get lazy or exhibit weird behaviors, so we had to take multiple approaches until we felt comfortable we had consistently high-quality answers.”