Featured Post: My Reading & Podcast List
Here are recent books I’ve read and podcasts I enjoy. If you’re looking for something interesting to listen to or read, these are a few that have stood out to me. Let me know if you have a recommendations.
The Brief: 40K Store Closures, Livestream Commerce, and the AI ROI Problem
Today's brief covers the looming wave of retail closures driven by tariffs and labor costs, livestream shopping platform Whatnot's integration with Shopify, the declining share of marketers who can prove AI ROI, and Walmart's aggressive AI push highlighted in its annual report.
Today's Azimuth brief covers the looming wave of retail closures driven by tariffs and labor costs, livestream shopping platform Whatnot's integration with Shopify, the declining share of marketers who can prove AI ROI, and Walmart's aggressive AI push highlighted in its annual report.
Today's stories:
• Retailers could close more than 40,000 stores in the next 5 years
• Whatnot integrates with Shopify, opening the platform to millions of merchants
• Share of marketers proving AI ROI drops from 49% to 41%
• Walmart's 2026 annual report highlights AI as a pivotal moment
1. Retailers Could Close More Than 40,000 Stores in Next 5 Years
UBS analysts are forecasting that U.S. retailers could close more than 40,000 stores over the next five years. The culprit isn't e-commerce eating physical retail. It's tariffs and immigration policy creating cost pressures that make marginal locations unsustainable.
Tariffs raise the cost of goods. Tighter immigration enforcement shrinks the labor pool and drives up wages. Retailers operating on thin margins with aging footprints can't absorb both at once. The stores that survive will be the ones generating enough revenue to justify their real estate. High-traffic locations in strong markets stay open. Everything else is on the table.
Expect closures to concentrate in secondary markets and older formats that no longer pull their weight. This isn't a slow decline. It's a structural reset driven by operating costs rising faster than sales can keep up.
2. Whatnot Integrates with Shopify, Opening Platform to Millions of Merchants
Livestream shopping platform Whatnot now integrates directly with Shopify, which means millions of merchants can sync inventory and run live shows without leaving their existing setup. Whatnot started with collectibles like trading cards and Funko Pops but has been expanding into fashion, beauty, and home goods, and this integration is a bet that livestream commerce works beyond niche categories.
For Shopify merchants, the integration lowers the barrier to testing livestream selling. They can keep their existing backend, add Whatnot as a sales channel, and see if live shows drive incremental revenue. For Whatnot, more sellers mean more content, which keeps buyers engaged and coming back. The platform's entire model depends on having enough live shows running at any given time to keep people browsing.
Livestream shopping still hasn't cracked the U.S. market the way it has in China, but platforms like Whatnot and TikTok Shop are showing that there's an audience for it. Whether that audience is big enough to turn livestream commerce into a mainstream sales channel instead of a novelty is still an open question. Shopify integration is Whatnot's way of finding out.
3. Share of Marketers Proving AI ROI Drops from 49% to 41%
The share of marketers who say they can prove AI ROI dropped from 49% to 41% in a single year, and in retail, the fall was even steeper: from 54% to 38%. This is happening as AI adoption continues to climb, meaning more teams are using the technology, but fewer can show that it's actually working.
Early AI wins were straightforward to measure: faster content production, automated segmentation, and basic efficiency gains. Those were real, but didn't move the needle much. Now leadership wants to see pipeline contribution and revenue growth, and most marketing teams can't connect those dots because they layered AI on top of broken attribution models and manual reporting processes that were already failing.
While declaring AI a priority is easy, proving it moves the bottom line requires defining what success looks like and building the measurement infrastructure to track it. Then you have to report it in a language that the language finance actually understands. No AI tool does that for you, which is why the gap between adoption and accountability keeps widening. Marketers who can't close it are losing budget.
4. Walmart's 2026 Annual Report Highlights AI as a Pivotal Moment
Walmart's 2026 annual report frames AI as central to the company's strategy, with CEO John Furner saying the retailer is at a pivotal moment. The report highlights e-commerce growth, new Supercenter openings, and what Walmart is calling major AI initiatives across operations and customer experience, though it doesn't break out specific investments or revenue attribution.
The language matters here. Walmart isn't calling AI experimental or a pilot program anymore. Framing it as a foundational strategy means the company expects AI to change how it operates, not just optimize around the edges. When the largest retailer in the U.S. makes that kind of declaration, suppliers, competitors, and investors all pay attention because it usually means the rest of the industry follows.
The challenge for Walmart and everyone else is the same one marketing teams are facing: turning AI ambition into measurable business outcomes. Walmart has the scale and resources to fund the experiment longer than most, but the same accountability questions apply. If AI is truly pivotal, the company will eventually need to show how it moved sales, lowered costs, or improved margins in ways that matter.
That's it for today.
The Brief: Sam’s Club’s One-Hour Delivery, MarTech Replacement Rates Slow, Affiliate Content Performance, and Ulta Beauty and Agentic Commerce
Today's retail and marketing brief covers Sam's Club's aggressive move into ultra-fast delivery, the slowdown in MarTech platform churn, growing attribution challenges for affiliate marketers in the AI age, and Ulta Beauty's deployment of agentic commerce through Google Gemini.
Today's Azimuth brief covers Sam's Club's aggressive move into ultra-fast delivery, the slowdown in MarTech platform churn, growing attribution challenges for affiliate marketers in the AI age, and Ulta Beauty's deployment of agentic commerce through Google Gemini.
Today's stories:
• Sam's Club launches one-hour express delivery nationwide
• MarTech replacement rates drop as companies shift focus to efficiency
• Brands struggle to measure affiliate content performance in the AI age
• Ulta Beauty deploys agentic commerce with Google Gemini
1. Sam's Club Launches One-Hour Express Delivery Nationwide
Sam's Club has rolled out one-hour Express delivery across all 600-plus stores, taking aim at Amazon's delivery dominance with a $10 service for Plus members. Since launching on April 2, the retailer has fulfilled nearly 65,000 orders with an average delivery time of 55 minutes. The 10 fastest deliveries clocked in under 12 minutes.
Members now choose between two tiers: the new one-hour service ($10 for Plus, $22 for Club members) or the existing three-hour option ($5 for Plus, $17 for Club). There's no purchase minimum, and items are priced the same as in-club with no markups.
What people are ordering reveals the shift from novelty to necessity. A significant share includes everyday essentials like bottled water, produce, rotisserie chicken, and paper goods. New parents in Amarillo got baby supplies in 11 minutes. Pet owners in Louisville received cat food at the same time.
2. MarTech Replacement Rates Slow as Companies Shift Focus to Efficiency
Source: MarTech.org
Marketing technology replacement rates are declining as companies shift from constant platform churn to extracting more value from existing stacks. Rather than ripping and replacing every few years, marketing leaders are doubling down on optimization, integration, and getting teams to actually use the tools they already have.
The change reflects broader economic pressure and MarTech maturation. Budgets are tighter, implementations are expensive, and switching costs are real. Teams are realizing that the problem often isn't the technology itself, but how it's deployed, integrated, and adopted across the organization.
This shift from churn to efficiency has implications for both vendors and practitioners. Vendors need to focus on retention, expansion, and proving ROI rather than purely acquisition. For marketers, it means getting serious about change management, training, and making sure the stack they have is fully leveraged before adding more to it.
3. Brands Struggle to Measure Affiliate Content Performance in the AI Age
Brands like Adobe and Away are finding it increasingly difficult to measure how well their affiliate content performs as AI search engines and chatbots reshape discovery. Traditional tracking mechanisms break down when content gets summarized, rewritten, or pulled into AI-generated responses rather than driving direct clicks to publisher sites.
The challenge is attribution. When someone asks an AI assistant for product recommendations, and the AI synthesizes information from affiliate content without sending users to the original review or comparison article, how do you measure that influence? How do you credit the affiliate partner when the transaction happens three steps removed from their content?
This is a problem. Affiliate marketing has traditionally relied on clear click-and-conversion paths. AI intermediaries muddy those waters. Brands and affiliates will need new frameworks for tracking influence and crediting referrals in an environment where content gets consumed indirectly through AI summaries rather than direct site visits.
4. Ulta Beauty Deploys Agentic Commerce with Google Gemini
Ulta Beauty is making its products shoppable directly within Google Search and the Gemini app, adopting the Universal Commerce Protocol to enable agentic commerce. The retailer is also launching Ulta AI, a shopping assistant built with Gemini Enterprise that leverages insights from Ulta's 46 million member base.
The UCP integration allows AI agents to interact with Ulta's ecommerce platform, meaning shoppers can discover, compare, and complete purchases without leaving the AI interface. This puts Ulta into the emerging agentic commerce flow where discovery, intent, and purchase are stitched together in a single interaction.
Beauty is a high-friction vertical where visual signals, brand trust, and personalization matter. Ulta's loyalty dataset and curated assortments give it a defensible advantage versus general marketplaces that win on logistics. The partnership positions Ulta to capture demand as shopping behavior shifts from browsing sites to asking assistants for recommendations.
That's it for today.
The Brief: Staples-Party City Partnership, Amazon's GLP-1 Program, Record Mother's Day Spending, and Parents' Digital Shopping Surge
News: stories Staples and Party City announced a strategic partnership bringing party supplies to 700+ stores, while Amazon One Medical launched a GLP-1 weight loss program starting at $149/month. Also: Mother's Day spending is expected to hit a record $38 billion, and new research shows parents engage in 50% more digital shopping days than average consumers.
Welcome to The Azimuth Brief for April 22, 2026. Here are the top retail and ecommerce stories that caught my attention.
Today's most interesting stories:
Staples partners with Party City in 700+ stores nationwide
Amazon launches GLP-1 weight loss program through One Medical
Mother's Day spending expected to hit record $38 billion
Parents drive 50% more digital shopping activity than average consumers
1. Staples and Party City Partner to Bring Party Supplies to 700+ Stores Nationwide
Staples and Party City announced a strategic partnership bringing Party City inside more than 700 Staples locations nationwide, just in time for graduation season. The collaboration makes Party City's selection of balloons, décor and party supplies available alongside Staples same-day print and marketing services, creating a single destination for personal and professional occasions.
The in-store experience features latex and foil balloons inflated with helium and ready to take home. Customers can choose from a range of colors, sizes, and designs. In the coming weeks, customers will also be able to schedule balloon pickups in advance through Staples.com and the Staples app.
Staples is celebrating the partnership with a buy 2, get 1 free offer on select foil balloons, valid through mid-June in store and online for in-store pickup. The deal applies to regularly priced foil balloons up to $6.99, with the discount applying to the lowest-priced item.
2. Amazon Launches GLP-1 Weight Loss Program Through One Medical
Amazon One Medical launched a comprehensive GLP-1 management program integrating weight loss treatment with primary care. The program combines virtual and in-person appointments, medication management, and pharmacy fulfillment through Amazon Pharmacy, positioning weight management as a long-term chronic condition rather than a one-off prescription.
The program offers oral GLP-1 medications starting at $149 per month for cash-pay customers, while those with insurance can access medications starting at $25 per month. Injectable treatments like Wegovy and Zepbound start at $299 per month without insurance. Customers already using GLP-1 treatments can renew prescriptions on demand, with messaging consultations starting at $29 and video visits at $49.
Amazon Pharmacy makes the medications available with same-day delivery in nearly 3,000 cities today, expanding to 4,500 by year-end. The program integrates GLP-1 management into patients' broader primary care relationships, with clinicians monitoring how weight loss intersects with cardiovascular health, metabolic conditions, and overall health.
3. Mother's Day Spending Expected to Hit Record $38 Billion
Consumer spending on Mother's Day is expected to reach a record $38 billion, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The amount surpasses last year's total spending of $34.1 billion and exceeds the previous record of $35.7 billion set in 2023.
Consistent with recent years, 84% of US adults plan to celebrate Mother's Day. On a per-person basis, consumers plan to spend a record average of $284.25 on gifts, up from $259.04 last year and the previous record of $274.02 in 2023. Of those celebrating, 54% plan to purchase for their mother or stepmother, followed by a wife (22%) or daughter (13%).
The leading shopping destinations for gifts include online (33%) and department stores (33%), followed by specialty stores (29%) and discount stores (26%). Flowers remain the most popular gift category, with 75% of shoppers planning to purchase. Other top categories include greeting cards (74%), special outings such as dinner or brunch (63%), gift cards (55%), and clothing or accessories (51%). Jewelry leads Mother's Day spending at $7.5 billion, followed by special outings ($6.4 billion) and electronics ($4.4 billion).
4. Parents Engage in 50% More Digital Shopping Days Than Average Consumers
Parents engage in 50% more digital shopping activity days than the average consumer, according to "The 2025 Global Digital Shopping Index" study commissioned by Visa Acceptance Solutions and released by PYMNTS Intelligence. The report documents mobile shopping as a mainstream retail behavior worldwide, with 48% of consumers using a phone for their most recent purchase and 60% browsing merchant sites multiple times a week.
Shoppers with children under their care used a phone in 58.6% of their most recent purchases, compared with 40.7% for non-parents. Parents logged 63.5 digital shopping days per month versus a 50.9 average across the full sample. The pattern holds across markets, even in countries where digital adoption is less intense overall, parents remain highly engaged mobile shoppers.
On 59% of the days parents shop digitally, they make a purchase, showing that this group is not just browsing more often but converting at a higher rate. The research shows these consumers gravitate toward clear payment choices, rewards, coupons, product details, and easy-to-navigate stores. Notably, 92% of shoppers used or wanted to use their preferred payment method at the merchant where they made their last purchase, making payment choice the top digital feature globally.
That's it for today.
The Brief: Tariff Refunds, Amazon Price-Fixing, Consumer Spending, and Walmart's Fulfillment Test
News: stories The US government launched a tariff refund portal for up to $166 billion in illegal duties, while California released documents alleging Amazon coordinated price-fixing with Walmart and Target. Also: March retail sales rose for the sixth straight month driven by tax refunds, and Walmart is testing store backrooms as fulfillment centers.
Welcome to The Azimuth Brief for April 22, 2026. Here are the top retail and ecommerce stories that caught my attention.
Today's stories:
US government launches $166B tariff refund portal
California alleges Amazon coordinated price-fixing with major retailers
March retail sales show resilience amid inflation and gas price spikes
Walmart pilots store-based fulfillment for marketplace sellers
1. US Government Launches Tariff Refund Portal for $166 Billion in Illegal Duties
US Customs and Border Protection launched the CAPE portal (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries), allowing businesses to begin requesting refunds for tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court. The government could owe businesses up to $166 billion after the Supreme Court ruled in February that President Trump had illegally issued tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The system limits refund applications to unliquidated tariffs plus tariffs finalized by CBP within the past 80 days. As of April 9, more than 56,000 US importers had registered to receive refunds. Up to 82% of IEEPA duty payments, amounting to $127 billion, are eligible for refunds in CAPE's initial deployment.
Refund checks are not expected until this summer. The government estimates the claims review process could take 45 days, with checks processed 60 to 90 days after approval. Refunds will only go to the importer of record or the licensed customs broker who originally paid the duties, leaving uncertainty around whether consumers will see any of that money. Some companies, like FedEx and Costco, have said they plan to pass refunds to customers.
2. California Alleges Amazon Coordinated Price-Fixing with Major Retailers
California Attorney General Rob Bonta released newly unsealed documents showing how Amazon allegedly pressured major brands like Levi Strauss and Hanes to inflate prices on rival online marketplaces as part of a wide-ranging price-fixing scheme. The documents are part of a 2022 antitrust lawsuit alleging Amazon stifled competition and increased consumer prices across the internet.
The documents include communications between Amazon and Hanes, where Amazon sent the vendor links to listings on Target and Walmart showing lower prices than on Amazon. Hanes confirmed it reached out to Target and Walmart to have the prices increased. In another case, Amazon alerted Allergan that it temporarily suppressed listings for its eye drops once it found they were being sold for less elsewhere. Allergan replied, saying Walmart raised its price back to $16.99.
Amazon also allegedly pressed Levi's to ask Walmart to hike the price of its khaki pants. Walmart raised its prices, the filing states. Bonta's office has asked a San Francisco Superior Court judge to prevent Amazon from engaging in the alleged price-fixing practices while the lawsuit proceeds.
3. March Retail Sales Show Resilience Amid Inflation and Gas Price Spikes
US retail sales rose for the sixth consecutive month in March 2026, as higher-than-average tax refunds helped offset increased gasoline prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor released by the National Retail Federation.
Core retail sales (excluding restaurants, auto dealers, and gas stations) were up 0.41% month over month in March and up 7.05% year over year. That compares with increases of 0.27% month over month and 5.87% year over year in February. Total retail sales rose 0.4% month over month and 6.59% year over year in March.
The results came as the IRS said 2026 tax refunds averaged $3,521 as of late March, up 11.1% from 2025 following changes in tax law passed last year. Almost all retail sectors recorded year-on-year increases, with clothing stores, sporting goods stores, and health and personal care stores seeing the highest growth. NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay noted that despite record-low consumer sentiment and the highest inflation rate in two years, consumers continued to spend on household priorities.
4. Walmart Pilots Store-Based Fulfillment for Marketplace Sellers in Dallas
Walmart is testing the use of backroom storage space in its stores as fulfillment centers for third-party marketplace sellers, according to multiple outlets. The pilot program is currently being tested in several Dallas-area locations and aims to facilitate same-day delivery for select products from the company's online marketplace. By storing inventory from marketplace sellers alongside its own products in store back rooms, Walmart can reportedly reduce delivery times from one to two days down to as little as three hours.
The initiative leverages Walmart's network of more than 4,700 US stores to compete directly with Amazon's fulfillment capabilities. Walmart's marketplace currently lists approximately 500 million items and has been growing rapidly, with marketplace sales up approximately 20% in recent quarters. The retailer has been using AI to help determine which stores marketplace items should be shipped to based on local demand forecasting.
Walmart's store-fulfilled delivery has been one of its fastest-growing channels, with expedited deliveries under three hours representing approximately 35% of store-fulfilled orders.
That's it for today.
Google’s AI Landing Page Patent: What It Means for Ecommerce and Brand Control
Google’s newest patent signals a shift from sending traffic to your website to potentially replacing it altogether. Instead of ranking pages, Google may generate its own AI-powered version of your storefront, tailored to each user. That raises bigger questions about brand control, data ownership, and what the future of search actually looks like for businesses.
Google Doesn’t Just Want to Rank Your Website Anymore — It May Replace It
Google’s latest patent suggests a seismic shift may be afoot. Instead of sending users to your website, it may evaluate your page and build its own version if yours isn’t good enough.
On January 27, 2026, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Google Patent US12536233B1, titled “AI-generated content page tailored to a specific user.” At a glance, it reads like a technical improvement. In practice, it points to a future where Google doesn’t just decide which website you see, but whether you see one at all.
From Ranking Pages to Rebuilding Them
At the center of the patent is something called a “Landing Page Score.” Before sending a user to a website, Google evaluates whether that page meets a certain threshold for quality and usability, using signals that marketers already recognize but may now carry higher stakes.
These signals include performance metrics such as conversion rate, bounce rate, and click-through rate, along with qualitative factors like page design and content clarity. More importantly, the patent explicitly references functional gaps, including the absence of features like product filters, as indicators of poor usability. That detail suggests this isn’t just about relevance or keyword alignment, but about whether a page delivers a complete and usable experience.
If a page performs well, the experience remains largely unchanged. If it doesn’t, Google may take a different approach by generating an alternative version in real time using large language models, effectively creating its own optimized experience tailored to the individual user.
This is where the shift becomes clear. Google is no longer just organizing access to content; it is positioning itself to reconstruct the experience of that content.
The Rise of the “Google-Built” Storefront
The AI-generated pages described in the patent are not simple summaries or enhanced snippets. They are designed to function like complete landing pages, assembled dynamically based on available data and user context.
These experiences can include personalized headlines, structured product feeds, suggested filters, clear calls to action, and even conversational interfaces that guide users through decisions. In many cases, they may represent a more streamlined and efficient version of what the brand itself provides, particularly if the original site lacks certain usability features.
From a user perspective, this reduces friction and simplifies the path to purchase. From a brand perspective, however, it introduces a new layer between you and your customer, where the experience is no longer fully yours to control.
The Erosion of the Direct Relationship?
The most significant implication is not traditional traffic loss (that’s already happening with AI platforms) but the gradual erosion of the direct customer relationship that brands have spent years building.
A website has historically been the one place where a brand fully controls its narrative, design, and experience. It is where trust is built through storytelling, testimonials, UX decisions, and subtle signals that differentiate one company from another. When that interaction is mediated through a Google-generated interface, much of that differentiation risks being flattened into standardized components.
The transaction may still occur, but the experience belongs to Google. Over time, that shift can weaken brand equity in ways that are difficult to measure in the short term but meaningful in the long run.
Zero-Click Search Becomes Zero-Click Commerce
We are already seeing the rise of zero-click search, where users find answers without leaving the search results page. This patent extends that concept into commerce by allowing the entire journey—discovery, evaluation, and potentially conversion—to happen within Google’s ecosystem.
That shift has direct implications for data ownership and learning. When users interact with your website, you gain insight into behavior, preferences, and friction points, which in turn fuel optimization and personalization efforts. When those interactions happen on a platform instead, that feedback loop becomes less visible and less actionable.
Over time, that loss of insight can limit a brand’s ability to improve its own experience, creating a dependency on platforms that increasingly control both visibility and interaction.
A New Layer in the Economics of Search
Another important element in the patent is where these AI-generated experiences can appear. The system allows for their inclusion within sponsored results, which introduces the possibility that paid traffic may lead to a Google-generated page rather than the brand’s own website.
While the patent does not define how broadly this would be implemented, it signals a direction where Google captures more value across both the experience layer and the monetization layer. Brands may find themselves not only competing for visibility, but also participating in an environment where the destination itself is no longer owned.
For smaller and mid-sized businesses, this raises the stakes significantly. Competing in search may no longer be about who ranks best, but who meets the threshold to remain part of the experience at all.
A Broader Shift Toward Platform-Owned Experiences
Taken in isolation, this patent is a technical concept. Viewed in the context of broader industry trends, it aligns with a clear movement toward platform-owned experiences, where discovery and interaction are increasingly consolidated into a single environment.
Search is evolving from a gateway into a destination, compressing what was once a multi-step journey into a single interface. At the same time, the importance of structured data is growing as platforms rely more on what they can access and interpret than on how a page is designed in isolation.
This is where the idea of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) begins to emerge. Visibility is no longer just about ranking pages, but about ensuring your brand is accurately represented within AI-generated environments that assemble and present information on your behalf.
What This Means for Brands Now
This patent does not represent an immediate shift, but it does point to a direction that is already taking shape and worth preparing for.
First, data quality becomes foundational, as structured product information, accurate attributes, and strong visual assets may increasingly define how your brand is represented when the interface is no longer your own. Second, user experience becomes a gatekeeper rather than a differentiator, with basic functionality like navigation and filtering determining whether your page is included or bypassed.
At the same time, owned channels become more valuable, as email marketing, SMS marketing, and community-driven engagement offer a way to maintain direct relationships in an environment where discovery is increasingly intermediated. Finally, brands must invest in differentiation that cannot be easily replicated, including trust, storytelling, and identity, which do not translate cleanly into structured data or templated interfaces.
The Future of Search Is the Interface Itself
Google’s patent signals a shift that goes beyond rankings or algorithm updates and moves toward a model where the interface itself becomes the primary battleground for attention.
For users, this will likely result in faster, more personalized experiences that reduce friction and simplify decision-making. For brands, it introduces a more complex reality where visibility depends not only on being found, but on being selected, interpreted, and reconstructed by systems outside their control.
The companies that adapt will not simply focus on ranking higher. They will focus on how they are understood, how they are represented, and how they remain differentiated in a world where the final interaction may no longer happen on their own site.
Still need help digesting this? Check out this explainer video.
Google AI Landing Page Patent FAQs
What is Google’s AI landing page patent?
Google’s patent (US12536233B1) describes a system where it evaluates a webpage before sending users to it. If the page does not meet certain quality or usability standards, Google may generate its own AI-powered version instead of directing users to the original site.
What is a “Landing Page Score”?
A Landing Page Score is Google’s way of assessing page quality based on performance metrics like conversion rate and bounce rate, along with usability factors such as design, content clarity, and functionality. The patent specifically mentions missing features like product filters as a negative signal.
Will Google replace websites with AI-generated pages?
Not entirely, and not immediately. This is a patent, not a fully rolled-out product. However, it signals a direction where Google may intervene more directly in the user experience when a page is considered low quality.
How does this impact ecommerce brands and SEO?
Ecommerce brands may see fewer users reaching their websites directly, which affects branding, conversion control, and data collection. SEO will also evolve beyond rankings toward how content and product data are understood and used within AI-generated experiences.
What should businesses do to prepare?
Businesses should focus on improving user experience, maintaining clean and structured product data, and building direct relationships through owned channels like email and SMS. Strong brand differentiation will also become more important as platforms take a larger role in shaping the customer experience.
AI Shopping During the Holidays and What It Means
Holiday shopping offered an early look at how consumers are using AI to research products and guide purchase decisions. The results reveal important signals about how ecommerce may evolve in 2026.
The holiday shopping season is often the clearest indicator of how consumers are actually using new technology. In 2025, AI moved from novelty to a practical shopping assistant for many consumers. Shoppers increasingly use AI tools to research gift ideas, compare products, and narrow their purchasing decisions. At the same time, consumer trust in AI for shopping rose dramatically throughout the year, signaling that AI-assisted commerce may soon become part of everyday buying behavior rather than a niche experiment. This can also have a ripple effect on the brand-consumer relationship.
In my latest article for AIThority, I examine what holiday shopping behavior revealed about the growing role of AI in e-commerce and what it may signal for the year ahead. The trends raise several questions brands should begin thinking about now:
If shoppers increasingly rely on AI to research and recommend products, how will brands influence those recommendations?
Will AI shopping behavior shift more commerce back toward desktop environments rather than mobile?
What does the rise of AI-generated traffic mean for traditional discovery channels like search and social media?
How should marketers adapt if AI becomes a primary entry point into the shopping journey?
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Agentic AI in Ecommerce: How It May Transform the Brand-Customer Relationship
Agentic AI is starting to make purchases on behalf of consumers, raising a new question for e-commerce: who is the real customer—the shopper or the AI? Traditional tactics like emotional branding and retargeting may not work the same way. Brands that adapt early by optimizing product data and strengthening identity will be best positioned for this shift.
I recently wrote an article titled “How Agentic AI in E-Commerce May Transform the Brand-Customer Relationship” for Total Retail, where I explored how autonomous AI shopping agents could reshape the way brands and customers interact. Below are some of the key questions and takeaways I discussed.
What Agentic AI Means for ECommerce Brands
Agentic AI is shifting the role of the “customer” from humans to autonomous shopping agents. That change raises big questions about how brands should adapt.
How can e-commerce brands optimize product data for AI agents?
If an AI agent is the one “shopping,” are brands really optimizing for human eyes or for machine readability? What happens if your product catalog isn’t agent-friendly?Can brands still build customer loyalty if AI agents make the purchases?
Can brands still build loyalty when the actual “customer” making purchase decisions is an AI agent with no emotions? Will storytelling and human touchpoints even matter in this new dynamic?How will agentic AI change ecommerce pricing strategies?
If agents are programmed to automatically buy the lowest-priced option that meets user criteria, what room is left for premium positioning or differentiation? Could price wars become the new normal?
Key Questions About the Future of Brand-Customer Relationships
As agentic AI matures, the traditional marketing playbook may no longer apply. Here are some of the uncertainties brands should be asking now.
What fraud risks come with autonomous AI shopping agents?
What new vulnerabilities emerge when autonomous agents handle transactions? Could fraudsters exploit agent logic in ways humans wouldn’t fall for?Will marketing tactics like retargeting still work in an AI-driven future?
If agents don’t browse, get distracted, or abandon carts, what happens to tactics like retargeting and promotional emails? Do we need to reinvent the entire playbook for digital marketing?
What's The Future of Agentic AI Ecosystems in Retail?
Agentic AI is no longer just a concept — it’s becoming an ecosystem. From Amazon and Walmart to Mastercard and Google, major players are racing to build AI-driven shopping environments that can search, compare, and even purchase on behalf of consumers. But with that convenience comes big questions: Who will control these ecosystems? What does it mean for smaller brands? And how will retailers adapt loyalty strategies when the “customer” might actually be an AI agent?
I recently wrote an article titled “The Future of Agentic AI Ecosystems in Retail” for Retail TouchPoints, where I explored how autonomous agents are evolving in e-commerce and what that means for brands, platforms, and shoppers. Below are some of the key questions and insights I discussed.
What Retailers Should Understand About Agentic AI Ecosystems
What is agentic AI, and how is it changing ecommerce?
Agentic AI refers to autonomous agents acting on behalf of users to browse, compare, and even purchase products. It’s moving rapidly beyond simple assistants and could reshape fundamental expectations in ecommerce.Which companies are already building or using agentic tools?
Examples like Amazon’s Buy For Me, Mastercard’s Agent Pay, Walmart’s developing tools, Google’s AI Mode, etc., show how big players are investing in this future.How many consumers trust agents to buy for them?
According to a recent survey, 66% of consumers currently refuse agentic AI when making purchases, even if it promises better deals. But that resistance may shift as usage and familiarity grow.
Key Concerns & Strategic Questions for the Future
What does “owning the AI shopping ecosystem” mean for power and data?
When companies control marketplaces, payment, fulfillment, and AI, they also control critical data flows. That can create huge leverage and potentially an unfair advantage.Will a consolidated ecosystem hurt small and lesser-known brands?
If a few major players dominate, exposure may tilt toward big brands. Small brands may struggle to be discovered or included unless they pay to play.Can consumers’ needs be met if AI agents become closed systems?
If agents only operate in certain ecosystems or favor certain sellers, users may lose out on choice, better deals, or discovery. Also, fragmented ecosystems might cause friction or confusion.How must brands shift from acquisition-first to post-purchase and loyalty focus?
With agents acting for customers, traditional loyalty (based on emotion, recognition, repeat purchase) may weaken. Brands might need to be the “preferred option” via quality, experience, and first-party channels (email, SMS, etc.).