At the National Retail Federation’s Big Show, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and incoming Walmart CEO John Furner announced the embedding of Google’s Gemini AI within Walmart and Sam’s Club platforms. Leveraging Google’s newly launched Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), this integration standardizes product discovery, pricing checks and checkout operations across agentic frameworks, enabling seamless purchases via Google Pay or PayPal. Walmart and Sam’s Club products will now surface automatically in AI-driven shopping queries, marking the first protocol-level commerce inclusion for a mass-market retailer. In parallel, Walmart and Alphabet expanded Wing drone deliveries to 150 additional stores—raising total drone-enabled locations to 270 in major metros such as Los Angeles and Miami—enhancing same-day fulfillment capabilities and narrowing logistics gaps with Amazon.

Nasdaq announced Walmart will replace AstraZeneca on its Nasdaq-100 index effective January 20, reflecting investors’ recognition of Walmart’s expanding e-commerce and technology initiatives. Since its move from the New York Stock Exchange in December, Walmart’s share performance has outpaced the S&P 500 by approximately 30% over the past year, driven by accelerated growth in its third-party marketplace, automated warehouses and membership service enrollments. CEO Douglas McMillon emphasized on recent earnings calls that over 15 fulfillment centers now utilize robotics and AI-based demand forecasting to reduce out-of-stock rates by 12%, underlining the company’s shift toward a tech-centric operating model.

Despite recent momentum, several factors could weigh on Walmart’s valuation. Consumer research firm Kantar Data reports a 4% year-over-year deceleration in grocery basket sizes during the holiday quarter, signaling softer discretionary spending. Meanwhile, wage inflation remains elevated: Walmart’s average hourly labor cost increased by 5.8% in fiscal 2026’s first half, pressuring margins already under strain from rising transportation expenses. Finally, rising competition from Amazon’s new suburban superstores and Target’s recently expanded same-day delivery footprint could erode Walmart’s low-price leadership, prompting some analysts to revise downward full-year operating income projections by up to 3%.