"Retailers have spent years learning how to get found by humans - win a ranking, earn a click, convert a landing page. But in 2026, that discovery moment is increasingly being mediated by something else: agentic AI that researches, compares, and recommends before a shopper ever opens a browser tab."
"One of the key retail industry trends for 2026, agentic AI is already mainstream. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that more than one-third of individuals across the OECD used generative AI tools in 2025, a sign that AI is quickly becoming part of everyday decision-making, including shopping. Furthermore, recent research from payment provider Checkout.com showed that 42% of consumers used AI to research gifts for Valentine's Day, indicating how embedded and widespread it is becoming into consumer behaviour, even for highly personal occasions."
"Juan Pellerano, chief marketing officer of global commerce platform SWAP, puts it plainly: "The first priority is [to] make sure [your] website and product catalogue are agent-ready ... does your site have rich structured data (i.e. JSON-LD), an AI-specific sitemap with robot permissions, a"
Agentic AI will increasingly mediate product discovery and purchasing by researching, comparing, and recommending options before shoppers open a browser. Generative AI adoption is already widespread, with over one-third of OECD individuals using these tools in 2025 and 42% of consumers using AI to research gifts for Valentine’s Day. E-commerce must shift focus from human search ranking alone to becoming the suggested option when agents are asked to find the best solution for specific needs. Practical actions include making product catalogs agent-ready, providing rich structured data (JSON-LD), creating AI-specific sitemaps, and managing robot permissions. Treat product data as a strategic growth lever.
Read at Forbes
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]