Walmart dominates online shopping with game-changing new tools

If you thought Black Friday 2025 started earlier, went faster, and somehow followed you from your phone to your TV to your email, you weren't wrong.

With a fresh approach, Walmart played a major role in one of the best online Black Fridays in 2025.

Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said it best.

According to Mastercard, Black Friday sales in the U.S. (not including cars) were up 4.1% from the year before. E-commerce did much better, rising 10.4% since 2024. Adobe says Americans spent $11.8 billion online in one day, which is 9.1% more than the same day last year.

A lot of that business went to Walmart.

Wrap-ups and channel checks show that Black Friday was busy for both Walmart and Target. People like to buy electronics and household goods when they are on a tight budget, and Walmart had a lot of demand for these items.

But the most interesting part is how Walmart did it, suggesting major implications for the retailer's future.

Black Friday was Walmart's secret tech story

Walmart didn't wait until the week before Thanksgiving to make the change. It started its "Deals Events" for Black Friday as early as Nov. 14.

• Up to 60% off well-known brands
• Thousands of items that cost less than $20

In one sentence, Furner summed up the appeal: "Nobody does low prices like we do."

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Walmart made those early discounts seem less risky by extending its return policy. Most items bought between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 can be returned until Jan. 31, 2026.

Regional media and consumer sites have noted this long return window, which helped Walmart position itself as the safest source for a cheap TV, console, or appliance that might not work.

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AI was also more important in the marketing process.

AI tools including Walmart's "Sparky" and Amazon's "Rufus" were two of the main reasons people spent so much money online this year. Over the holiday weekend, retail sites that use AI saw a huge increase in traffic. Instead of scrolling through endless product grids, more and more buyers are really talking to a bot about what to buy.

And all of this is happening right before Walmart does something it hasn't done in more than 50 years.

What just happened to Walmart's stock, and why it matters to customers

Walmart's shares will move from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq on Dec. 9, according to Reuters. This ends their long tenure on the Big Board.

When the news broke, it was worth about $850 billion, making it the biggest exchange transfer in history.

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Nasdaq calls this a big win, which cements its reputation as a home for tech-heavy, growth-oriented companies. Walmart agrees with that story, saying the change is part of its "technology-forward" move to become a "people-led, tech-powered omnichannel retailer," Investopedia reports.

The Nasdaq listing is important for investors because it could mean the company is added to more tech-focused indexes, bringing in more passive and quantitative flows over time.

Walmart's message to both customers and Wall Street is clear: If the stock acts like a tech stock, it should feel like a tech company when you use the app or go into a store.

That's when the AI and the numbers come in.

Online shopping is growing, and stores are acting like small warehouses

The numbers for Walmart's third quarter of FY26 show the strength of its tech-driven platform. It can handle many questions at once, making it much easier for the company to do business, compared to traditional stores.

• Walmart saw a 5.8% increase in revenue from last year (6.0% in constant currency).
• E-commerce sales worldwide jumped by 27%.
• Store promotions and delivery helped Walmart's online U.S. sales increase by 28%.
• For the seventh quarter in a row, Walmart's online U.S. sales rose by more than 20%.
• Sales at similar stores in the U.S. (not including gas) went up by 4.5%, and sales at Sam's Club climbed by 3.8%.
• More than 20% of the website's most important parts grew.

Walmart was able to handle the Black Friday rush because it has been turning its stores into logistical hubs.

The presentation to investors for the third quarter showed that deliveries to stores had risen by more than 50%. Walmart filled about 35% of those orders in less than three hours.

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On the back end:

• Automated distribution centers send freight to more than 60% of stores in the U.S.
• Machines do more than half of the work at e-commerce fulfillment centers.

A third-party study shows that automating more than half of that volume has lowered shipping costs by more than 10%, according to Warehouse Automation. Walmart noted in its own comments about the third quarter that this kind of automation made it easier to serve customers and generate more revenue.

That cost control helped Walmart raise its FY26 forecast. This means:

• It raised its outlook for net sales growth to 4.8% to 5.1%, 24/7 Wall St. reported.
• Adjusted operating income is expected to rise between 4.8% and 5.5%.
• Walmart had $27.5 billion in operating cash flow and $8.8 billion in free cash flow last year.

In other words, Walmart can keep making big sales without hurting its bottom line because its robots, software, and delivery do most of the hard work.

AI turns Walmart circular into discussion about ads, tips, and Instant Checkout

Walmart is turning the weekly circular into a two-way conversation. "Sparky," an AI assistant, is available on both the app and the site.

You can tell it to plan a $300 dorm room or a cheap Thanksgiving, and it will look at different options, summarize reviews, and make a shopping list for you.

The retailer is also currently trying Sponsored Prompts, The Wall Street Journal reports. Brands pay for particular questions to show up in these kinds of conversations, telling us where retail media goes when people talk instead of clicking.

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Agentic commerce is the second part. With Walmart's ChatGPT and Instant Checkout, shoppers can ask for a week's worth of family meals or a pantry refill and pay without ever going to Walmart.com.

AI is cleaning up product data, making designs faster, speeding up service response, and giving employees tools like Ask Sam. The goal is to make things easier for customers and give more employees more important work to do.

"Walmart is setting a new standard for omnichannel retail by using automation and AI," CFO John David Rainey told Reuters.

For investors, margin is the most important thing. Retail media, subscriptions, and automation can all help keep prices low and make more money. People who buy things have to deal with more ads but better suggestions.

This holiday season, searching for deals may resemble asking a friend for help rather than embarking on a treasure hunt. And if Walmart can get people to use AI shopping tools, the retailer will transform from a conventional store into more of a tech-powered platform.

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