The Role of Shopping Agents in Retail

🚨 Amazon just tipped its hand in the AI shopping wars. The Information says they’re building TWO agents: 1️⃣ Marketplace traffic cop – pipes stock & shipping data to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Rufus so outside agents keep orders inside Amazon. 2️⃣ Rufus 2.0 concierge – keeps shoppers from straying at all. In a companywide memo about AI on Monday, CEO Andy Jassy said agents are “coming fast,” and that there will some day be billions of agents doing everything from “shopping to travel to daily chores and tasks.” Great for Amazon. Hair-raising for every D2C brand. When a customer’s AI tells Amazon’s AI “buy collagen powder,” who speaks for you? Key shifts D2C leaders must decode: • Agent > PDP – The buying decision happens in a chat, not on your product page. • Data is the language – Specs, pricing, reviews must be API-ready or you’re mute. • Narrative control – Without your own agent, Amazon’s bot sets the terms (and your margin). • AIO > SEO – Start optimizing for Agent Interface, not search snippets. We believe the future of D2C isn't just being present on platforms, but actively participating in these new Agent-to-Agent conversations. We’re already shipping brand-owned shopping agents that convert 3× higher than static pages, proof you can win on your own turf. How are you preparing your brand for an agent-led economy? #ecommerce #AI #D2C #RetailTech #AgenticAI

Will AI Agents Be The End to Retail Media? With Amazon's recent announcement of its “Nova Act” AI agent (designed to browse and shop on your behalf), the idea of AI doing the shopping for us feels imminent. After reading Kiri Masters article about this launch (link in comments), I started wondering… If AI agents are about to become the new shoppers, what happens to retail media? So I ran a few experiments. I used ChatGPT’s AI agent, “Operator,” and asked it to buy me some toilet paper. Once from Walmart and once from Target. I gave it a simple prompt: find me a great quality toilet paper at a good value. Here’s what happened: At both retailers, the agent surfaced the top four search results – At Walmart, 3 of the 4 were sponsored – At Target, 2 of the 4 were sponsored The only difference: the Target agent filtered for products with 4+ star reviews, because I mentioned quality. I asked the agent whether the sponsored ads influenced its recommendation. In both cases, the answer was “no” but that they chose items that met my criteria and were “the first ones [they] saw.” In their own words: 🛒 Walmart: “I focused on the initial visible options that fit the criteria.” 🛍️ Target: “Sponsored products appeared at the top of search results, which is why they were initially presented.”   At first, I was surprised. I didn’t expect the agent to favor ads, but I did expect it to work a little harder - maybe scan a few more rows, compare value, or check price per sheet. Instead, it took the path of least resistance. Sound familiar? It’s eerily human and very consistent with what we know from shopper psychology: most shoppers choose the path of least resistance. Based on this experiment, I think there are a few implications for how we think about retail media moving forward as AI shopping agents become more common. 1.     Winning Top of Search Placement Will Become Absolutely Critical: If agents default to what’s first and meets the basic criteria, getting those critical spots will become even more competitive, and expensive! 2.     Branded Search Terms Will Become Less Relevant: Today brands buy their branded terms to “protect the shelf”. However, if you tell an agent “buy me Charmin,” it’s likely to go straight there. No need to “protect the brand” the same way. 3.     Continue to Keep Shopper Psychology at the Center of Decisions, Even for Agents: Will online retailers be able to dramatically simplify their assortment? Fewer choices can reduce friction and increase confidence. Will all websites default to only 4 start and above products shown? The agent will not want to make a poor recommendation for you. So, will AI agents replace human shoppers overnight? Probably not. But retailers designing retail media programs and brands participating in them, should begin to consider this now. How do you think retail media will change as AI shopping agents become more mainstream? #AIinECOMM #AITrainer #AISpeaker #AIConsultant

OpenAI's launch of its consumer-facing 'Operator' Agent on Friday is going to change everything we know about retail. Remember when people said nobody would buy groceries online? Well, Webvan tried, failed, and Instacart proved them all wrong. Now we're facing an even bigger shift: AI shopping agents that sit between us and retailers. Here's what makes this different: Today, when we shop online, we interact directly with retailers' websites. We see their ads, their recommendations, their sponsored products. But imagine telling your AI assistant: "Order my weekly groceries, use my favorite coffee brand, but get store brands for everything else. Deliver Tuesday morning." The AI Agent becomes your personal shopper. It knows your preferences, compares prices across stores, and makes purchases without you ever seeing a single advertisement. This isn't just about convenience - it's about control. The multi-billion dollar retail media industry relies on catching your eye with ads. But what happens when AI agents do the shopping and never see those ads? Read more here 👇 [Part 1 of 2] Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions. I know not everyone is as bullish on this as I am...