The retail landscape is experiencing its most significant transformation since the emergence of e-commerce in the 1990s. In our latest 5 Insightful Minutes episode, David Dorf, Global Head of Retail Industry Solutions at AWS, delivers a wake-up call that every retailer needs to hear: the “agentic wars” have officially begun.
The Acceleration Nobody Saw Coming
Just six months ago, AI agents in retail seemed like a distant future concept. Today, the reality is starkly different. Amazon launched “Buy for Me,” Google unveiled its shopping agent, and OpenAI entered the fray with its own commerce-focused AI assistant. What was supposed to be a gradual evolution has become a rapid revolution.
“It’s gone a lot faster than I imagined,” Dorf explains. “The agentic wars have begun, and I think this holiday season we’re going to see how this stuff really works in action.”
The numbers support this dramatic shift. Adobe reported a 1,000% year-over-year growth in generative AI leads for retail purchases. While still a small slice of the overall pie, the trajectory is unmistakable.
The Three-Pillar Strategy for Survival
For retailers wondering how to navigate this new landscape, Dorf outlines a comprehensive three-pillar approach:
1. Inbound Agent Strategy Retailers must decide whether to block AI agents or welcome them by making it easier for these systems to access product data and execute purchases.
2. Outbound Agent Strategy Consider extending your assortment by creating agents that shop other platforms on behalf of your customers, similar to how marketplaces expanded product offerings.
3. On-Site Agent Strategy Implement your own AI assistant (like Amazon’s Rufus) to capture customers before they migrate to external LLM platforms for product discovery and recommendations.
The Technical Infrastructure Reality Check
The current reality of how AI agents operate reveals both opportunities and challenges. Most agents execute purchases by emulating human behavior through browsers—clicking, scrolling, and navigating like people do. While tools like Amazon Nova Act enable this browser-based interaction, the approach can be unreliable and easily disrupted by JavaScript complexities.
The solution? Retailers need to digitize their interfaces by creating APIs that make product catalogs easily accessible to AI systems. This isn’t just about better user experience—it’s about ensuring your products can be discovered and purchased in an AI-driven commerce ecosystem.
The Rise of Domain-Specific Intelligence
Perhaps most intriguingly, Dorf predicts the emergence of domain-specific large language models trained specifically on product catalogs. Just as we’ve seen specialized LLMs for healthcare and finance, retail-specific AI models will deliver significantly more accurate product recommendations and shopping experiences.
The Chief AI Officer Era
Just as the chief digital officer role emerged to usher in e-commerce, Dorf anticipates the rise of chief AI officers in retail. Lululemon recently made headlines by appointing their first Chief AI Officer, signaling a broader industry recognition that AI integration requires dedicated leadership.
This role extends far beyond customer-facing applications. AI agents can revolutionize back-end operations including forecasting, pricing, allocations, and marketing—ultimately leading to superior customer experiences.
The Disruption Comparison
Dorf’s most striking prediction positions agentic commerce as the retail industry’s next major disruption, comparable to e-commerce’s impact in the 1990s.
For retailers, this represents both unprecedented opportunity and existential risk. Those who understand and leverage agentic commerce early can create significant competitive advantages. Those who ignore it risk obsolescence.
Your Next Steps
The holiday season ahead will serve as the first major test case for agentic commerce at scale. Retailers must begin preparing now by:
- Evaluating their current digital infrastructure’s AI-readiness
- Developing clear strategies for each of the three agent interaction types
- Considering leadership structures that can drive AI adoption across all business functions
- Monitoring emerging standards from organizations like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal for agent-based payments
The agentic commerce revolution isn’t just coming. We are on its doorstep. The question isn’t whether your retail business will be affected, but whether you’ll lead the transformation or be disrupted by it.
Watch the full 5 Insightful Minutes episode to hear David Dorf’s complete insights on navigating the agentic commerce revolution and positioning your retail business for success in this new era.
Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.