Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…

Retail has spent years perfecting the customer-facing chatbot. Faster replies, automated returns, instant order updates, and self-service tools designed to shorten the wait between a shopper’s question and an answer. Every holiday season brings another wave of investment toward the same goal, and retailers have made tremendous progress improving what customers can see. Now, as…

AI should work as a new sales channel, not another platform standing between the small business and its customers. A merchant's store should remain the place where customer, order, and payment data lives. AI should connect to that, not replace it.

Retailers engaged in online commerce with third-party sellers are generally well equipped to catch clear violations, such as a prohibited product, a known bad actor, or an obvious policy breach. Technology can typically catch these violations, often before a seller even begins transacting on a platform. The problem, however, is that bad actors are becoming…

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming standard equipment for marketers. Retailers are using it to create campaigns, optimize media, personalize experiences, and make decisions faster. That adoption will only accelerate as peak season approaches. As access to these capabilities becomes more widespread, however, simply having AI within the marketing stack will become less meaningful. The greater…

For decades e-commerce marketers built their playbooks around one goal: rank and then click. Artificial intelligence has rewritten that playbook and retail brands are noticing. Shoppers are increasingly asking product- or service-related questions to AI agents/chatbots/search fields that get answered before they reach a website. That's not a shift in tactics, but a shift in…

Amazon.com says it has cut off Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent from shopping on its marketplace on behalf of customers, after attempting unsuccessfully to get the Facebook parent company to voluntarily exclude the e-commerce site from the experience. The problem, Amazon says, is that it never agreed to any of it. Meta didn’t tell…

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher, was visiting me recently and asked whether AG1 Greens was better than IM8, the supplement he takes. I pulled up Google’s AI Mode and compared them while we were talking. It asked whether he wanted nutritional substitution or longevity, since IM8 is better for longevity. That’s not what I…

According to the recent Muck Rack State of PR 2026 report, an overwhelming majority of artificial intelligence citations (read: about 99 percent) are coming from nonpaid sources. In other words, AI-generated search results aren't picking up paid op-eds or sponsored links, instead focusing on earned media. Even Google searches now include AI overviews, causing a…

Join us for an interactive discussion on how leading retailers are using AI to transform merchandising.

The retail industry has spent years building the shopping journey around one kind of customer: a person who searches, reads reviews, and puts something in a cart. Before long, that person may send an artificial intelligence agent instead. Imagine telling an AI assistant, "I need everything for a backyard barbecue this weekend. Stay within my…