Artificial Intelligence (AI)
February 10, 2026 at 12:14 pm
Meet the Gen Z shopper: phone in hand, switching between TikTok and Instagram while moving through the world around them. Their attention shifts quickly, shaped by a constant feed of tailored content and instant recommendations. They value authenticity and newness, and they decide within seconds whether something feels worth their time. For retailers, this poses…
February 10, 2026 at 10:43 am
Retailers have spent the last decade obsessing over conversion rates, checkout optimization, and reducing friction for human buyers. However, a new customer has quietly entered the market, one that doesn’t browse the way humans do, doesn’t type into forms, and doesn’t tolerate broken workflows. Who are they? Artificial intelligence agents. According to Sean Neville, cofounder…
February 9, 2026 at 2:32 pm
Retailers are operating in an increasingly unforgiving environment. Shoppers expect fast, personalized, and consistent service, while retail organizations are stretched thin by staffing shortages, rising costs, and ongoing supply chain volatility. In an on-demand culture, even minor service breakdowns — an unanswered question, a long wait, an out-of-stock item — can cause today’s transactional shopper…
February 9, 2026 at 12:22 pm
Over the past year, artificial intelligence's role in the shopping journey has moved past the experimentation phase, becoming a baseline expectation for consumers. Tools such as AI agents, AI-powered search and recommendations, and AI-powered checkout have become an integral part of consumer experiences in a way that goes beyond just optimizing experiences. AI tools are…
February 4, 2026 at 5:20 pm
Walmart’s Q3 earnings, 2025 holiday shopping trends, tariff/inflation hangovers, and the rise of agentic commerce signal a clear shift: consumers are shopping differently, and the pace of change is only accelerating. More consumers are deal-seeking, increasingly channel-agnostic, and far more willing to comparison shop when value tilts in another direction. Retailers and brands have had…
February 3, 2026 at 12:58 pm
If technology matures at a pace closer to dog years than human, then we’ve already witnessed a century of conversational intelligence since Siri first appeared on our iPhones 15 years ago. As ChatGPT and a constellation of other large language models (LLMs) continue to evolve at an exponential speed and scale, legacy interactive voice response…
February 2, 2026 at 2:49 pm
The adoption of artificial intelligence has transformed digital marketing. Traditional search engine optimization efforts are now incorporating GEO (generative engine optimization) principles to reflect the rise of AI search, creating a new paradigm for online presence. Below are three key predictions about how brand discovery will be transformed in 2026. 1. AI engagement will become…
February 2, 2026 at 1:37 pm
The retail industry is already steeped in the nonstop buzz of artificial intelligence. While hype is high, action is lagging. The time is now to accelerate or be left at the bus stop. Yet the question remains: Is there a real return on investment in AI? A recent Google study, ROI of AI, found that…
February 2, 2026 at 1:10 pm
I once had a boss I thought was kind of ridiculous. A larger-than-life persona topped off with a pair of ludicrous luxury sneakers. You can imagine my surprise when, six months later, I bought the same pair. Those shoes, which I whimsically tried on following a small windfall at work, were comfortable and looked amazing.…
January 28, 2026 at 5:33 pm
At the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City earlier this month, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviewed Tony Bacos, chief product and technology officer at Stitch Fix, an online personal styling service. Bacos detailed how Stitch Fix works to target common shopping challenges and change the way consumers discover style recommendations through the utilization…
