Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) have spent years competing for shoppers through price, convenience and delivery speed. As AI assistants become another way consumers discover products, a new question emerges for investors: when shoppers ask a chatbot what to buy, which retailers get recommended, and which websites get the click?
Semrush's 2026 AI Visibility Index, released Oct. 13, offers a more specific picture of how the two retailers appear across AI platforms.
Amazon.com was among 15 domains in the report's Universal Core, which appeared consistently across ChatGPT, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google Gemini, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews in both the U.S. and U.K. Walmart, meanwhile, appeared in the U.S.-only Universal Core, alongside retailers including eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) and Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY).
Its findings point to a potential shift in how consumers encounter businesses online. If shoppers increasingly use AI tools to compare products and seek recommendations, appearing in an answer could become another competitive battleground for retailers.
Mentions Are Not Sales
Amazon's presence across both markets and Walmart's appearance in the U.S.-only group provide a concrete starting point for comparing their AI visibility. But the index tracks domain mentions, not necessarily product recommendations or purchases, so it doesn't show which retailer is winning the AI shopping race.
The distinction between mentions and citations matters. A chatbot might recommend a retailer without sending the user to its website, while a citation can provide a direct path to product pages. Neither outcome automatically translates into a completed purchase.
Amazon's marketplace, product selection and fulfillment capabilities give it several ways to compete once a shopper is ready to buy. Walmart combines its retail website with a physical store network, offering another route from product discovery to fulfillment.
But Semrush's report does not establish that either retailer is winning the AI shopping race, nor does it quantify how much revenue AI recommendations generate for either company. Its visibility findings offer a starting point for investigating the opportunity, not proof of a commercial advantage.
What Investors Should Watch
For Amazon and Walmart investors, the next question is whether AI-driven discovery generates incremental traffic and sales or simply shifts visits away from traditional search results. Retailers will also need to understand whether AI platforms cite their own websites, direct shoppers to third-party sellers or recommend competing products.
The longer-term implication is that product discovery could become another battleground in retail competition. Amazon and Walmart already compete for consumers' spending; as AI assistants increasingly mediate online decisions, they may also have to compete for a place in the answer itself.
