When Bots Don't Buy Your Hype: The Platform-Killing Disruption Retailers Didn't See Coming

Carol dives deep into the retail disruption that's hiding in plain sight – and why retailers and brands might be seriously underestimating its impact. While most retailers are treating AI shopping agents like just another optimization challenge, Carol's here with a reality check – this isn't about tweaking your marketing messages. It's about attempting to tame AI agents that couldn't care less about your beautiful product photography, emotional brand storytelling, or those conversion funnels you spent months perfecting.

These retailer and brand-agnostic bots can dart in and out of carefully constructed platforms, completely unimpressed by all that stickiness retailers have worked so hard to create. But here's the upside: retailers and brands that get ahead of this curve will have conquered a mighty beast that could leave competitors scrambling for answers.

Episode highlights:

• What makes AI actually "agentic" – Why 94% of companies claiming to use agents probably aren't (spoiler: your chatbot doesn't count)
• The content conundrum – How do you serve emotional humans AND data-hungry bots when they're after completely different details? 
• Retail media mayhem – How AI shopping agents could derail retail media goldmines overnight.
• The nail in the coffin(s) – Why narrow-focused retailers like Party City and Bed Bath & Beyond were just the warm-up act for what's ahead.

Ready or not, the shopping bots are coming. Will your retail strategy survive first contact?

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Transcript

Welcome to Spieckerman Speaks Retail with me, Carol Spieckerman. I've been knee-deep in B2B retail sales and marketing for my entire career and I know how hard it is to stand out from the herd. So I launched my consulting business with a clear mission: Help retail marketers, technology, and solution providers sharpen their market positioning so they can get credit for the great stuff they're already doing and accelerate growth. Through my workshops, advisory services, and thought leadership platforms, we'll bridge the gap between where retail is headed next and how your solutions fit into that future. My podcast curates fresh takes on the wide world of retail through my latest retail trajectories and interviews with experts who help us chart the course to what's next.

So I’m just back from Nashville where I keynoted Syndigo’s Connect conference – and wow, what an event that was. The energy in that room was electric – literally. Syndigo was rocking a music theme that made the whole show so much fun. After my presentation, I had a great conversation with Chris Capato from Kroger about how the Retail Trajectories I curated for the keynote are playing out in the retail trenches. Chris is a rare combo of wicked smart, multi-faceted, kind, and curious. A true leader who I’m proud to now call a friend. 

There was a really diverse group of retailers, brands, and solution providers there which I always love. But everyone was wrestling with the same challenge: how do we stay ahead of a rapidly-evolving retail landscape where product data isn't just king, it's the entire kingdom?

But during my Retail Trajectories keynote, and especially the Q&A and conversations that followed, one specific topic kept bubbling up. People were pulling me aside at coffee breaks, cornering me at cocktail hour, sliding into my DMs afterward wanting to talk more about AI agents, what they mean for retail, and particularly on the product experience management side. The timing was crazy too because I was already putting this episode together to take on agentic shopping as a broader topic. So it was obviously meant to be and here we are!

Because what we're looking at here isn't just another tech trend that retailers need to "optimize for." This is a complete disruption of the game they've spent years perfecting. And most people are treating it like it's just a tweaking exercise. Spoiler alert: it's not.

But first things first – let's agree on what an AI agent even is, because in my experience it’s one of those things that getting thrown around with everyone nodding along, even when it doesn’t apply.

An AI agent isn't just a chatbot with better PR. And it's not your website's search function on steroids. A true AI agent is software that can reason, make decisions, and take actions on behalf of humans – autonomously. We're talking about systems that can shop for you, complete purchases, manage your subscriptions, and even filter out marketing that doesn't align with your values or goals.

Think of it this way: instead of going to Amazon, searching through dozens of options, reading reviews, and clicking "buy now," you'll tell your AI agent "I need a new coffee maker that's under $200 and fits my minimalist kitchen aesthetic," and it goes out, scans the entire internet, compares options you'd never even think to look for, in places you might never think to go, and completes the purchase. No human intervention required.

Now here's where it gets interesting – and where a lot of companies are getting confused. This is fundamentally different from the chatbots and AI assistants we're already used to. If you ask ChatGPT to help you find a coffee maker, it might give you some suggestions, but you're still doing all the legwork – the searching, comparing, deciding, purchasing. That's not agentic behavior, that's just a really smart assistant.

A true AI agent doesn't just respond to your specific instructions – it reasons through problems and makes decisions based on contextual knowledge about you and your preferences. It's the difference between asking someone for directions and hiring someone to actually drive you there. So, most of what we're calling "AI agents" today are really just those chatbots and assistants in fancy new packaging. Agentic AI will shift decision-making dynamics from choices made by customers to those made on their behalf.

OpenAI's Operator is already doing this true agent work. Google, Apple, Meta – they're all building these capabilities. And of course the ultimate proof that something serious is afoot is that there’s already an acronym for it – A2C, or agent-to-consumer.

And here's where it gets scary for retailers: these agents don't care about your beautiful product photography, your emotional brand storytelling, or your carefully crafted SEO strategy that took months to perfect.

You might be thinking Hey, this is five years away, maybe ten. Why worry about it now?" And to that I say: remember when mobile commerce was "five years away"? Remember when social commerce was just a nice-to-have? 

Here's my fundamental premise, and this was a core part of my Retail Trajectories keynote: retailers are no longer just places that sell stuff. They are platforms. Complex, diversified platforms that tie together products, services – including advertising for brand marketers – convenience options for shoppers, data, content, digital experiences, physical experiences, content….The whole nine yards.

Now and in the future, retail growth will happen through platform building, platform partnerships, and platform monetization – not just selling stuff. And tapping into this trifecta is what separates the survivors from the casualties. Look at the retailers that have failed recently – Party City, Bed Bath & Beyond, Joann Fabrics. What did they have in common? They were places that sold stuff. Narrow-focused, product-centric, one-dimensional businesses. Meanwhile, the retailers thriving today – Amazon and Walmart are in this rarified air – they're platforms offering everything from cloud computing to advertising services to healthcare. I would argue that one reason Target’s having a tough time now is because it has dabbled in platform building and monetization, but never went all-in. If it HAD, Target would have a much sturdier bulwark against all the backlash it’s facing on the just-selling-stuff side of the business.

But here's where AI agents throw a massive wrench into this carefully constructed platform strategy. All that work retailers have done to create those sticky, diversified platforms? All those services designed to onboard and keep customers engaged and spending within their ecosystem? AI agents can dart in and out of these platforms without getting caught up in the experience retailers have worked so hard to create. 

Think about it: if an AI agent is shopping for you, it doesn't care about Target's cute seasonal displays. It's not going to get distracted by Walmart's grocery pickup service while shopping for electronics. It won't be impressed by Amazon's personalized recommendations based on your browsing history. These agents are heat-seeking, retailer-agnostic bots that are completely unmoved by your perfectly optimized product descriptions and conversion funnels.

And this hits retailers in two critical ways. First, it disrupts their customer retention strategy. All those billions invested in creating seamless omnichannel experiences and platform diversification? That's designed to keep customers playing and spending within their ecosystem. But AI agents don't need to be retained and can’t be restrained – they're task-oriented visitors that show up, grab what they need, and head out.

Second – and this is huge – it threatens the retail media goldmine. Retail media has become a massive profit center for major retailers. Brands pay premium rates to advertise on Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger’s platforms because these retailers control access to millions of shoppers. But if AI agents are doing the shopping, they could theoretically also "shop" for advertising, completely bypassing retailers' carefully curated brand partnerships and sponsored product placements.

"But Carol, won't retailers just build their own AI agents?" And yes, they will and are. Walmart is already building shopping agents that can handle repetitive tasks like grocery reorders and respond to prompts like "I want to plan a unicorn-themed party for my daughter." That's smart defensive positioning.

But there are two big challenges: consumers aren't going to want seven different AI agents – one for each retailer they shop with. They'll want one universal agent that can shop across all platforms and find the best deals, fastest delivery, or whatever criteria matters most to them at the time. And that universal agent isn't going to be loyal to any particular retailer or brand.

The retailers who understand this are already freaking out – and rightfully so. These are the smart, diversified retailers who spent years building these sophisticated platforms, only to realize that a bot might just render all that platform stickiness irrelevant.

So what does this mean for the future of retail? Well, first, it means that product data optimization is about to become exponentially more important – and more complex. It's no longer enough to optimize for human shoppers and search engines. Now you need to make sure your products are discoverable and appealing to AI agents that think and shop fundamentally differently than humans do.

These agents aren't going to be swayed by emotional appeals or lifestyle imagery. They'll prioritize structured data, transparent pricing, and measurable value. They might make split-second decisions about pricing and discounts that would make your head spin. And they're definitely not going to be impressed by your Instagram-worthy product staging.

Second, it means retailers need to think seriously about their direct customer relationships. If checkout moves from your website to a third-party AI agent's interface, you're losing a crucial touchpoint with your customers. You're becoming more like a supplier than a destination.

And here's where it gets really complex – and honestly, where I think retailers are going to struggle the most. How do you optimize for both humans and agents on the same website without messing up the experience and navigation? Think about it: your human customers want emotional appeals, beautiful 3-D lifestyle imagery, aspirational language. They want to see that coffee maker transforming their morning routine in their 'kitchen sanctuary.' But an AI agent? It wants structured data, specifications, compatibility details, clear dimensions – basically a technical spec sheet.

So now retailers are facing this impossible choice: do you lead with human appeal and hope agents can dig through it to find the data they need? Do you create separate pages and risk confusing your site architecture? Or do you try to blend both approaches and end up satisfying neither audience particularly well? It's a fundamental conflict that no one has really solved yet – and it's happening on product pages across every retail website.  

But here's where I see opportunity amid all this disruption. The retailers who will thrive in an AI agent world are the ones who embrace this shift instead of fighting it. They'll figure out how to make their platforms not just agent-friendly, but agent-preferred. They'll develop their own AI capabilities not as defensive moves, but as competitive advantages.

And they'll remember that while AI agents might be doing the shopping, humans are still doing the living. There will always be room for retailers that can create experiences, solve problems, and provide value that goes beyond transactional efficiency.

The key is recognizing that we're not just tweaking our marketing messages here. We're looking at a fundamental shift in how commerce happens. The retailers who get ahead of this curve – who start thinking about agent optimization the same way they once thought about mobile optimization – those are the ones who'll still be here in ten years. The ones who treat this like just another algorithm to game or worse yet, something they can think about later? Well, we've seen how that story ends in retail. And it's usually not pretty.

I'll be watching this space closely, because I genuinely believe this is the next major disruption in retail. It might be the nail in the coffin for those narrow-focused, product-centric retailers still hanging on. But for the smart, diversified platforms willing to evolve? It might just be the next chapter in their platform-building story.

As always, I'm curious about your take on this. Are you seeing AI agents in your business yet? How are you thinking about this shift? Drop me a line – I'd love to hear your perspective.

Thank you for listening in today. I hope you enjoyed the episode and if you did, you can invite me to your organization or event to bring conversations like this to life in your spaces. This is what I do: B2B coaching, training, and executive consulting. If it has to do with retail thought leadership, B2B market positioning and business development, it’s probably something I can help you with. If you’re interested in how we can work together, reach out to me at spieckermanretail.com or email team@spieckermanretail.com to book a discovery call.

Until next time, keep speaking retail.