Retailgentic | Consumer Behavior & Retail Trend

Ronnie Chatterji, Chief Economist at OpenAI and former Duke University professor, shares insights from his study on ChatGPT usage. He discusses the evolution of consumer behavior from asking to doing, revealing surprising data insights. AI's role in transforming shopping, particularly through voice and vision, is highlighted as a game-changer. Chatterji also emphasizes the importance of writing support and notes that purchasable products currently represent just 2.1% of interactions. The future of agentic commerce promises exciting developments.

Caila Schwartz, Director of Strategy and Consumer Insights at Salesforce, dives into thrilling trends transforming holiday shopping. She reveals how AI will influence 21% of global holiday spending and why 'discovery' is the year's key theme, replacing traditional discounts. Baby Boomers are now using AI tools like ChatGPT for their shopping, while Gen Z is reigniting the mall experience. Caila also discusses the quirky return of 'Discount Chicken' and the shifting dynamics of consumer loyalty in an evolving retail landscape.

In this episode of Retailgentic, Scot Wingo talks with Manil Uppal, Founder & CEO of CartAI, about building the “execution layer” of agentic commerce, where AI agents don’t just recommend products, they buy them. From his early startups acquired by H-E-B and UPS to his vision for CartAI, Manil shares how his team is solving the hardest problem in agentic shopping: completing checkout seamlessly across any retailer.Key Timestamps00:02:00 – Manil’s background: from delivery startups to AI infrastructure00:09:00 – The “aha” moment: from “Where to Buy” to “Go Buy It”00:15:00 – The 3 layers of Agentic Commerce: Catalog, Payments, Checkout00:20:00 – How CartAI executes merchant-native checkouts across platforms00:26:00 – Why retailers need a whitelist for good agents00:33:00 – Handling out-of-stocks, variants, and dynamic pricing00:40:00 – Thoughts on ChatGPT’s new ACP standard00:43:00 – Lessons from early food delivery startups for agentic commerce00:46:00 – The future: vertical AI apps, expert agents, and commerce everywhereAgentic commerce is evolving fast and CartAI is building the rails to make it work.👉 Connect with Manil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maniluppal/👉 Learn more about CartAI: https://www.cartai.ai👉 Explore their substack: https://substack.com/@cartai🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai 📺 Watch episodes on YouTube & Subscribe for updates: https://www.youtube.com/@Retailgentic

In this engaging conversation, Scot Wingo, a serial entrepreneur and marketplace expert, dives into the transformative world of Agentic Commerce. He shares insights from his journey with ChannelAdvisor and reveals how AI tools like ChatGPT can revolutionize shopping experiences. Scot discusses the challenges of messy product catalogs and the importance of loyalty in the evolving e-commerce landscape. He also explores how agentic browsing can streamline pricing for consumers, setting the stage for the future of retail.

Jason Nyus, General Manager of North America at Shopware, boasts over 25 years in e-commerce, including a significant tenure at Digital River. He discusses the rise of agentic commerce and the formation of the Agentic Commerce Alliance, designed to foster an open ecosystem. Jason explains Shopware's focus on mid-market complexities and its innovative freemium model. He also predicts a future where a billion-dollar brand operates without a website, with agentic commerce potentially comprising 25% of e-commerce by 2030.

Jordi Montes, Founder and CEO of SimpleCheckout.ai, shares his transformative journey from the Bitcoin Lightning Network to creating a unified payment framework for AI-driven commerce. He reveals how the capabilities of AI inspired agentic payments, emphasizing the need for payment systems that evolve beyond traditional browsers. Dive into his vision for L402, a protocol for AI agents, and why personalization will reshape online retail. With a focus on making payments agnostic, Jordi discusses the future of agent-to-agent transactions and the role of developers in this revolution.

In this episode of the Retailgentic Podcast, Scot Wingo sits down with Melissa Minkow, Global Director of Retail Strategies & Insights at CI&T. Melissa shares her perspective on consumer behavior, why ingrained shopping habits stick, and how agentic commerce will shape the future of retail.We cover:- Why consumer habits are so hard to change, even in grocery shopping- Exclusive sneak peek: fresh survey data showing 75% of consumers now use AI in their path to purchase- How agentic commerce could transform loyalty, pricing, and even group buying- Lessons from Target Canada and why back-office AI matters more than flashy consumer tools- Why TikTok might be the blueprint for agentic retail experiencesRetail is changing fast and the agentic future is already here. Subscribe for more conversations, insights, and data shaping the next chapter of commerce.Timestamps:00:00 – Consumers are routinized: why habits stick01:08 – Introducing the Retailgenic Podcast02:15 – Guest intro: Melissa Minco of CI&T04:06 – Melissa’s background: from Anthropologie to Target to CI&T08:52 – Target Canada lessons & retail systems breakdown12:00 – Apps vs. consumers: adoption, trust, and pushback15:00 – Agentic commerce: inside vs. outside view19:00 – Will consumers build their own shopping agents?23:00 – Exclusive data: 75% of consumers now use AI in their path to purchase28:00 – Sponsored GEO and consumer trust33:00 – Agent strategies: retailer, consumer, and third-party36:00 – Best practices: getting your “back office” right first40:00 – Checkouts, marketplaces, and the future of digital retail46:00 – Loyalty in the agentic era: Gen Z, UK vs. US, and discounts50:00 – Group buying, negotiation, and dynamic pricing56:00 – Reading the tea leaves: websites, zero-click, and consumer control01:00:00 – Melissa’s “personal agents” vision of the future01:05:00 – TikTok as a model for agentic commerce01:08:00 – Wrap-up & closing thoughtsReport drops at CI&T website soon: https://ciandt.com/us/en-us🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.

Dr. Amine Allouah completed his PhD at Columbia Business School, specializing in algorithmic game theory and optimization in multi-agent systems. After leading applied science work at Meta across ads, notifications, and marketplace teams, he co-founded My Custom AI to help enterprises deploy tailored AI solutions. His work bridges deep theory with practical applications, shaping how businesses think about LLMs, agents, and the economics of AI.This week on Retailgentic, we’re joined by Dr. Amine, co-founder of My Custom AI and one of the sharpest minds at the intersection of AI, economics, and retail. In this conversation, we dig deep into:Amine’s journey: École Polytechnique → Columbia → Meta → entrepreneurshipWhat algorithmic game theory means for real-world AI systemsWhy enterprises need custom models for accuracy, privacy, and cost savingsThe ACES Framework: how agents really “shop” onlineSurprising findings: agents ignore ads, but positioning still mattersWhy MCP isn’t enough, and what’s next for protocolsImplications for retailers, brands, and the future of retail mediaIf you’ve ever wondered how agents will reshape retail and what brands need to do right now to prepare, this episode will give you a front-row seat to the future of agentic commerce.Highlights/Timestamps ⏱️0:00 – How agents drive omnichannel growth beyond e-commerce5:00 – Meet guest Amine Allouah: from École Polytechnique to Columbia PhD9:30 – Game theory, algorithm design, and AI: lessons from his PhD13:45 – From Meta AI researcher to startup founder: the origin of My Custom AI18:10 – What My Custom AI does: feasibility studies, custom model training & workshops23:25 – Why retailers sometimes need their own LLMs: accuracy, privacy & cost savings29:20 – Beyond LLaMA: multimodal models, recommendation systems, and custom architectures34:05 – The ACES Framework: building a sandbox to study agent shopping39:16 – Optimizations around pricing, loyalty & group buying39:24 – Why group buying startups have struggled39:35 – Aligning buyer and seller agents for better outcomes44:15 – Agent behavior insights: Claude and the “ergonomic” keyword example48:50 – The case for seller-side agents and real-time PDP updates51:31 – Amazon is the first company to adopt the ACES framework55:00 – Retail media networks in an agent world: real-time “agentic ads”58:00 – Will websites die? The future of browsing, checkouts & merchant centers1:01:00 – Closing thoughts + where to find Amine & the ACES paper🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.

In this episode of Retailgentic, Deloitte’s Chief Futurist Kasey Lobaugh joins us to explore the future of agentic commerce. Kasey has spent nearly three decades advising global retailers, brands, and manufacturers. He launched Deloitte Digital, now a multibillion-dollar business, and today leads Deloitte’s Future of the Consumer Industry platform. Known for coining the “great bifurcation” of consumers, Kasey helps executives anticipate disruptive forces and chart strategy amid seismic change.Scot and Kasey unpack the forces reshaping commerce and the role of AI:Six forces shaping the consumer industryThe great bifurcation of value vs. convenience shoppersRise of predictive enterprisesFragmentation and shifting demographicsAgentic AI and digital services growthDeclining Google traffic and new discovery modelsWhy “hopping the cost curve” may be essentialHighlights00:02:00 – Meet Kasey Lobaugh, Deloitte’s Chief Futurist for the consumer industry00:05:00 – The six forces shaping the future: consumer, culture, tech, industry, climate, and politics00:10:30 – Why growth feels constrained: demographics, barriers to entry, and shifting spend00:15:00 – The new bifurcation: asset owners vs. providers of labor00:20:00 – From mass retail to hyper-relevance powered by AI00:23:00 – The predictive enterprise: moving beyond insights to compute-led foresight00:25:30 – Surprising predictive attributes: why buying a cat can forecast retail behavior00:29:30 – Women and wealth: a dramatic shift by 203000:34:00 – The decline of search and rise of GenAI discovery00:40:00 – Retailers in the age of ChatGPT checkout00:46:00 – AI isn’t blockchain or VR: why adoption curves look different00:50:00 – Creativity unlocked: from AI-generated music to new consumer products00:54:00 – Hopping cost curves: why efficiency alone won’t win the AI era00:57:00 – Closing thoughts: racing to abundance, not the bottom🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.

Andrea Leigh, Founder and CEO of Allume Group and an Amazon alum, dives into the transformative landscape of commerce driven by AI. She reveals that around 60% of shoppers now utilize AI for product research, reshaping the shopping experience. The discussion also explores Gen Z's shift towards TikTok for searches, the rising significance of D2C sites, and how social commerce blurs entertainment with shopping. Andrea highlights the evolving definitions of value and the impending disruption of traditional retail media networks, offering a roadmap for brands navigating these changes.