What happens when an ad finds you at exactly the right moment, but still gets the job wrong? I found myself standing in the bolts aisle at Bunnings, using ChatGPT to figure out which bolt I needed for my home studio setup, when an ad helpfully reminded me that I could buy bolts at Bunnings. The problem? I was already there. What I really needed was for my AI assistant to tell me whether the bolt I needed was in stock on the shelf in front of me.

That experience got me thinking about the future of AI shopping, the limitations of the Amazon-inspired retail media playbook, and what actually makes a retailer different. In this episode, I explore why retail media networks need to build around their retailers’ unique strengths rather than simply maximize ad revenue, what new research tells us about how consumers validate AI-generated product recommendations, and why real-time inventory, physical store networks, and customer relationships could become retailers’ biggest advantages in the age of AI-enabled commerce.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

00:00 – The Bunnings aisle experience that exposed a blind spot in AI shopping ads.

01:35 – Why AI shopping often starts with a general-purpose assistant and ends in a physical store.

02:25 – Why Amazon’s retail media revenue model doesn’t necessarily translate to other retailers.

03:35 – The operational realities of building an in-store retail media network across independently owned locations.

05:30 – Finding the “holy” part of your retail media network: protecting the competitive advantage that keeps customers coming back.

07:00 – What consumer research reveals about AI product recommendations, trust, and where shoppers go to validate their choices.

08:39 – Why retailer AI assistants need to solve real shopping problems, and how local inventory could be a retailer’s biggest advantage.

Links & Resources

• Watch a conversation The Drum published this week, which was recorded in September after the AdClub of New York's Commerce Media Exchange. Myself, Gordon Young from The Drum and Marc Walkin of QSIC debated the concept of a retail media playbook.
• Kantar's latest Media Reactions study — watch the webinar
• The AI research I coauthored with Bazaarvoice
• Read my related articles:
  • ‘I’m a realist’: Gopuff’s head of ads on why it handed its onsite adtech to Instacart (The Drum)
  • The Shopping Signals That Are Changing With AI
  • AI Makes Shopping Easier. But Shoppers Still Check The Receipts.
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

AI shopping agents are starting to change how people discover products, compare prices, and actually make purchases. But as these agents take on more of the shopping journey, there’s a much bigger question we need to be asking: who’s going to pay for them, and will they still be working in the shopper’s best interest when they do?

In this episode, I’m sharing some of my favorite moments from Jason Goldberg and Scot Wingo’s discussion on The Jason & Scot Show, including a fascinating story about how Walmart approached AI adoption, why Amazon is building its own shopping agent ecosystem, and what happens when AI agents start handling the actual execution of a purchase. I also share details about my new podcast/newsletter AdGentic, dig into why advertising could ultimately become the business model behind personal AI agents, and what that means for retail media, brands, and consumer trust.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[01:00] – The Walmart AI Wake-Up Call: How a conversation with former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon illustrates why AI adoption has to start at the top.

[03:23] – Why Amazon Is Building Its Own AI Shopping Ecosystem: Could AI agents become another shopping and media surface for Amazon to dominate?

[05:05] – What Actually Counts as Agentic Commerce? Scot Wingo’s broader definition of agentic commerce goes beyond autonomous shopping to include any AI-assisted part of the purchase journey.

[06:11] – The Shift From AI Discovery to AI Checkout: Why shoppers handing over price comparisons, shipping research, and checkout to AI agents could disrupt retail media in unexpected ways.

[08:50] – Who Pays for AI Shopping Agents? Jason Goldberg and Scot Wingo explore monetization, affiliate commissions, subscriptions, and the challenge of keeping agents on the shopper’s side.

[11:34] – Will Advertising Fund the Future of AI Agents? Why I think ads could become the dominant business model for personal AI agents — and what we should be asking about relevance, transparency, and trust.

[14:55] – Is Shopping Fun or Just a Chore? Why shoppers may want to keep the enjoyable parts of shopping while handing over the tedious work to AI agents.

Links & Resources

• Listen to the full episode of The Jason & Scot Show, Episode 352 - Is Agentic Commerce a Mirage?
• Subscribe to The Jason & Scot Show on Apple Podcasts
• Check out my new project AdGentic! Ensh*ttification is Coming to Personal AI Agents is live as a newsletter and on YouTube
• Read my related articles:
  • Not All Shopping Is Fun
  • When the PDP Becomes the Homepage
  • Discovery Has Moved Upstream. Here's What That Means for Retailers.
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn