Walmart Develops “Wally,” Its New AI-Powered Assistant for Merchants

Walmart has taken a significant lead forward by introducing Wally, a new generative AI assistant designed to empower its internal merchants. 

In early 2025, Walmart announced the deployment of this AI tool across its merchandising teams in the US, aiming to streamline operations, reduce time spent on manual tasks, and elevate decision-making capabilities. 

Wally is part of a larger generative AI strategy that Walmart is implementing to improve efficiency and strengthen its technological edge in retail. 

According to Walmart’s official newsroom, Wally AI will serve as a centralized interface for merchandising teams, allowing them to execute complex operations with a simplified prompt-based system. 

The AI assistant isn’t customer-facing; it’s specifically developed to support internal teams in areas such as sales analysis, forecasting, vendor relations, and category management. 

The introduction of this Walmart assistant illustrates the retailer’s broader ambitions to integrate generative AI technologies into the core of its operations while competing with both Amazon and rising retail tech startups. 

What is Walmart Wally?

Wally is an internal AI-driven productivity tool developed by Walmart that uses natural language processing to understand merchant queries and provide instant answers, analysis, and operational support. 

Unlike traditional dashboards or fragmented tools, Wally’s merchandise management interface is built on Walmart’s proprietary data systems, enabling real-time access to wide sales and product insights. This allows employees to bypass layers of manual analysis and directly interact with complex retail data using conversational language. 

With Walmart generative AI, teams can navigate massive data sets, surface insights, and even run diagnostics through a simple chat-like interface. 

The Innovation Behind Wally

The genai Walmart innovation is driven by the increasing need for retailers to automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks in an increasingly dynamic environment. Walmart’s internal teams previously used various systems for different processes, which caused bottlenecks and inefficiencies. 

With the introduction of this AI assistant, Walmart aims to centralize merchant operations into a single interface. This technology allows staff to initiate processes that previously required specialized analytics skills, such as sales forecasting or competitor analysis, simply by typing queries into the “Wally Tool.” 

The engine behind Wally is built on large language models and generative algorithms trained using Walmart’s proprietary operational, customer, and supplier datasets. 

This is why the system provides highly accurate and context-aware outputs that align with Walmart’s specific merchandising protocols. As generative AI becomes a mainstay in retail, Walmart genai is becoming a model for enterprise-grade AI deployment. 

Walmart Wally: Customized Functionality

Walmart has designed Wally to serve various operational needs within its merchandising ecosystem. Walmart shopping assistant is not built for consumers but for internal use by planners, merchants, and managers. The tool has the capability to perform data-intensive tasks with high speed and reliability. 

The Rise of Generative AI in Retail

Walmart’s Vision for Wally

Walmart’s leadership has positioned Wally Tool as part of a broader modernization initiative. This initiative includes AI-powered forecasting systems, robotic warehouse operations, and intelligent pricing engines. 

The goal is to make Walmart more agile and responsive in a digital-first economy while supporting its internal workforce with advanced tools. 

Perform Data Entry and Analysis 

One of the key strengths of Wally AI is its ability to automate data entry and standardized data formats, enabling merchants to upload and manipulate large volumes of product and sales data. This reduces clerical errors and accelerates onboarding processes for new items or promotions. 

Diagnosing Product Performance 

Merchants using Wally’s merchandise features can input product categories or SKUs and receive instant performance breakdowns, including insight on pricing, regional sales patterns, return rates, and consumer reviews. 

The diagnostic capabilities help merchants focus more on action-oriented planning instead of static reporting. 

Answering Operational Queries

Using the AI chat interface, users can ask questions such as “Why is my product not performing in the Northeast?” and “What is our margin on private label coffee beans?” These questions, which typically required hours of digging through spreadsheets, now take seconds with Walmart Assistant.

Perform Advanced Calculations 

The assistant can calculate gross margin changes, inventory risk scores, or promotional lists using internal algorithms. Its advanced analytics capabilities support more data-driven decisions, allowing Walmart merchants to adapt more quickly to changes in market behavior. 

Wally’s Effects on Retailers

Increased Focus on Strategy and Creativity 

By offloading routine tasks to Wally, Walmart’s merchandising professionals can shift their focus toward strategic planning, creative promotions, and supplier development.

This reallocation of mental bandwidth is expected to improve both productivity and innovation across the board. 

Equalizing Market Conditions 

One of the most promising aspects of Wally AI is its potential to level the playing field for newer and less experienced merchants. 

In the past, institutional knowledge gave veteran teams an edge. Now, with AI-supported guidance, new users can access the same caliber of insights. This promotes consistency in execution and ensures higher standards across Walmart’s merchandising divisions. 

Responding to Evolving Customer Expectations 

With real-time data analytics embedded in Wally’s merchandise suite, Walmart is better equipped to react to shifts in consumer behavior. 

This makes it easier to fine-tune product assortments, adjust pricing, and ensure store-level responsiveness, all of which are important in a post-pandemic retail climate. 

FAQ

How Does Wally Improve Product Analytics? 

Wally enhances product analytics by aggregating multi-source data, performing predictive modeling, and delivering instant visualizations. 

Instead of combining through multiple platforms, merchants get a holistic view of sales, returns, pricing trends, and competitor benchmarks all from one chat command. 

How Does Wally Impact the Daily Work of Sellers? 

The AI assistant simplifies how sellers operate by removing redundant workflows. Routine activities such as item setup, trend analysis, or supply chain inquiries can now be completed in minutes rather than hours, giving users more time to focus on strategic decisions. 

How Does Generative AI Fit Into Walmart’s Broader Strategy?

Genai Walmart is a core element of Walmart’s digital transformation. Beyond Wally AI, Walmart is implementing generative AI across supply chain forecasting, customer service, and internal HR tools. 

The aim is to create a cohesive, data-driven ecosystem where AI supports every aspect of decision-making and operational execution.