AI is altering the industry path to purchase

In the first of an exclusive, quarterly column, Toby Pickard, IGD Retail Futures Senior Partner, examines how retailers are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence to optimise operations, enhance customer experiences across both digital and physical channels, and improve overall profitability

Moreover, AI is streamlining workflows at both the head office and store levels, increasing conversion rates, and providing data-driven insights that enable more effective strategic decision-making, according to the retail technology analyst.

The next AI frontier

The rapid advancement and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence is redefining industry landscapes, with innovations emerging at an unprecedented pace. The advent of machines capable of reasoning and acting autonomously is swiftly becoming a tangible reality, significantly altering consumer behaviours and retail operations.

Senior leaders within the retail sector must carefully assess the implications and risks associated with agentic AI for their business models. As this technology begins to influence how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase products - often beyond traditional retail touchpoints - businesses will witness a fundamental transformation in the purchasing journey.

Autonomous agents are increasingly responsible for activities such as price comparisons, meal planning, order placement, and household budget optimisation on behalf of shoppers.

Consequently, the point of influence is shifting from human decision-making toward AI-driven recommendation systems. This evolution poses challenges to established brand loyalty, places pressure on margins and modifies demand patterns.

Retailers and suppliers who fail to update their strategies, data infrastructures, and value propositions for an AI-mediated shopping environment risk losing relevance in a marketplace where algorithmic decisions, rather than consumer preferences, determine purchasing outcomes.

Age of agentics

Major progress is already being made with agentic AI, it is enabling autonomous decision-making across ecommerce platforms, creating intelligent systems that continuously learn, optimise, and act without human prompting.

Companies such as Amazon, Walmart, Carrefour, Ahold Delhaize, Ocado, Lowe’s, and Instacart are already deploying components of agentic AI to help shoppers and automate basket-building, from smartcart enhancements to automated checkout.

Walmart is already seeing the benefits of using agentic AI. It has introduced AI-powered tools that make it easier for customers to find deals, locate products, and shop efficiently, both in-store and online. The new features, such as store-specific savings, interactive 3D showrooms, and AI-powered party planning, are designed to personalise the shopping journey and immerse customers in a seamless experience.

In a press announcement at the end of October 2025, Tracy Poulliot, SVP, shopping experiences, Walmart US, said: “The most wonderful time of the year should be joyful, and with the power of AI and technology, we're making that possible.

“Whether customers are holiday shopping in our stores or from the comfort of home, we’re giving them the tools to check off their lists quicker and easier than ever before. And they’re loving it - when they use the app while they shop in stores, they spend 25 percent more on average than on trips when they don’t use the app.”

However, it isn’t just retailers that are deploying agentic AI to improve the shopping experience. Large technology companies like OpenAI and Alphabet are using agentics to create a new shopping experience. For example, OpenAI is introducing Shopping Research, an AI tool in ChatGPT that helps users find products, read reviews, and compare options based on their preferences.

Currently, they can click through to the retailer’s site to complete the purchase, however, in the future, OpenAI says shoppers will be able to purchase directly through ChatGPT for merchants who are part of ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout⁠ solution.

Google is also introducing sophisticated agentic powered shopping and checkout solutions. In November 2025, it introduced a new agentic checkout feature that enables shoppers to buy products at a price that they deem to be desirable. Customers click the “track price” button on any product listing and set the price they are willing to pay, along with product preferences like the right size and color. Customers will then receive price drop notifications and, if they are happy with the discounted price, they can confirm the purchase details and tap “buy for me”.

Behind the scenes, Google will add the item to the shopper’s basket on the merchant's site and securely complete the checkout on the shopper’s behalf with Google Pay. This agentic checkout feature is starting to roll out from eligible merchants in the U.S. like Wayfair, Chewy, Quince and select Shopify merchants, with many more coming soon.

As these systems take over more shopper-facing decisions, a new challenge emerges: the direct connection between retailer and shopper risks becoming diluted.

Retailers may no longer control every interaction or message, as AI agents curate experiences independently. This shift demands a rethink of brand communication, trust-building, and customer loyalty strategies.

Losing touch

As agentic ecosystems increasingly embed commerce into everyday digital interactions, shopping risks shifting beyond the reach of retailers and brands, and with it, much of their influence.

When purchases are automated or delegated to AI, retailers can become invisible, losing pricing control, retail media revenue, first-party data, and even direct relationships with shoppers.

For suppliers, the stakes are just as high: algorithms - not consumers - will decide which products make it into baskets, potentially favouring private label or the cheapest viable option, eliminating impulse purchases, and making premium positioning harder to defend.

Discovery becomes a technical challenge rather than an in-store art, and “pay to play” moves from retail media to algorithmic visibility - requiring new marketing capabilities many brands don’t yet have.

To prepare for this future, retailers must forge strategic partnerships with the tech platforms shaping these ecosystems, and suppliers must treat data as a core marketing asset. The companies that adapt earliest will define the next era of influence; those that don’t may simply vanish from the shopping journey.

Toby Pickard is Senior Retail Futures Partner for grocery insights and analysis firm, IGD. He writes 'The Innovation Line' exclusively for Retail Technology magazine.