
Agentic Shopping Poses An Existential Threat To Retail Media (Part 2)
What retailers and brands should be doing to prepare for a future where AI agents ignore Sponsored Product ads.
What retailers and brands should be doing to prepare for a future where AI agents ignore Sponsored Product ads.
Season 2 kicks off on Monday July 28. Subscribe to the podcast, the email newsletter, or the LinkedIn newsletter and you’ll be notified when I’m back!
I spent 2 hours reading Mary Meeker’s 340-page AI trends report so you don’t have to... But you probably still should. Here are my 6 highlights for retailers, brands and agencies.
Before we begin, if you like today's post, you'll love the webinar I'm part of next week: The Retail Media Halo Effect brought to us by Keen Decision Systems and Future Commerce. Much of my thoughts below came from noodling on the very topics
The cycle that traps networks—and why transparency could be the key to breaking free.
While the timeline remains uncertain, the direction is clear. Retailers clinging to traditional advertising models without planning for agent-mediated commerce risk being left behind.
Most brands don't understand retailer internal politics—merchants vs. retail media teams often operate in silos.
By creating their own loyalty hooks, brands can insert themselves directly into the decision logic and strengthen consumer preference across any channel.
The traditional approach of blocking first and asking questions later won't work. What's required are new trust systems designed for humans to work with artificial entities that can be compromised, cloned, or weaponized.
While most retail media networks battle for digital shelf space and sponsored product placements, Sam's Club is taking its advertising dollars to racetracks, country music concerts, and county fairs.
A worthwhile conference trip requires the same strategic thinking we apply to retail media campaigns.
The survey of large US agency media buyers paints a picture of an industry caught between potential and execution.
Retailers and brands that win won't be those clinging to purposefully opaque points-and-discounts models hoping to outlast AI disruption. They'll be the ones rebuilding their programs as preference engines that agents can actually read and act on.
Today's AI models treat sponsored products like a credibility tax. But viewing this as permanent misunderstands both how AI evolves and how markets adapt.
Here's a question that might sting a little: When your brand launches a new product, are you finding out about it at the same time as everyone else? Or worse—are you getting a heads-up just days before launch with a cheerful 'Hey, build a forecast!'