Walmart brings its Sparky AI shopping assistant to Canada in English and French

Walmart has extended Sparky, its generative AI shopping assistant, to Canada. The tool went live nationally on October 29 in both English and French, on Walmart's website and mobile app, CP24 reports. The Canadian Press notes that the arrival comes more than a year after Walmart first introduced the assistant in the United States.

What Sparky does

Instead of searching item by item, customers can describe what they want and let the assistant suggest products. According to CP24, Sparky can recommend items, summarize customer reviews, compare products and help assemble shopping lists, including for gift ideas or a holiday meal on a budget. Andrew Go, Walmart Canada's vice-president of e-commerce, told The Canadian Press that shoppers can plan lists around a budget or an occasion and ask shopping questions directly.

Walmart says it intends to add shopping with images and recipe inspiration later, CP24 reports, but has not given a timeline. A press release from Walmart Canada could not be located for this article, so the feature list relies on these media reports.

Pricing pledge and privacy questions

The Canadian rollout follows a commitment by Walmart Inc. president and CEO John Furner in September that information shared with the assistant would not be used to raise an individual customer's prices or to hide cheaper options that fit their needs. The Canadian Press says the pledge came after shopper concerns about digital shelf labels and the company's broader push into AI.

CP24 points out that Walmart Canada's privacy policy allows the collection of purchase history, online activity and payment details depending on how customers interact with the company, and permits using personal data for personalized recommendations and advertising. The policy does not specifically state which of these categories Sparky draws on. Some shoppers interviewed by CP24 welcomed the convenience, while others voiced concern about financial and personal data.

Retail analyst Bruce Winder told CP24 the tool could save Canadians time and money, but warned that AI assistants can display outdated prices or products that are not in stock, and advised shoppers to double-check before buying.

Competitive context

Walmart is not the first large Canadian retailer to experiment with conversational shopping. The Canadian Press recalls that Loblaw connected its grocery delivery app to ChatGPT in February, which the agency described as a first among grocers.