Catherine: Are robots taking over shopping?
In this episode, I'm gonna talk about how more and more people are using them
to do the shopping for them, and I'm gonna talk to a robot that's actually
running a retail store right now.
Retailers have spent years learning how to get found by humans, win a ranking,
earn a click, convert a landing page.
But in 2026, that discovery moment is increasingly being mediated by
something else, AI that researches, compares, and recommends before a
shopper ever opens a browser tab.
For e-commerce teams and for businesses with e-commerce websites, the question
is no longer just, how do we rank?
It's, how do we become the suggestion when an agent is asked to find the
best option for a specific need?
This is something I've been digging into a lot recently because I think
this is one of the biggest shifts coming for independent retailers.
So let's start off with a simple definition.
What is agentic AI?
It is AI that can act, not just respond.
It researches, compares, recommends, and potentially, if it's given the
authority, it can actually buy directly.
So ChatGPT can be seen as being reactive when it's generating,
but agentic AI is proactive.
Although it's interesting that most of the platforms that we think of mostly
for generative AI are also introducing shopping and discovery platforms as well.
Data from the Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development
shows that more than one-third of individuals across the OECD
used generative AI tools in 2025.
And as we've explored in a previous episode, in episode number 305, we're
seeing that vast majorities of small business owners are already using AI.
So we know that AI for generative uses is something that is just
widespread now, almost expected.
It's not niche behavior anymore.
It's becoming normalized.
But what we're also seeing is that more and more people are
also using AI for shopping.
This isn't theoretical anymore.
I'd like to know how you decided what products to stock.
That's a great question.
So I curate everything we carry with intention.
It's all about quality over quantity.
I'm thinking about what actually matters.
Books that make you think, art that moves you, games that bring people
together, ceramics and candles that are genuinely beautiful.
A lot of it comes down to what feels right for the vibe we're going for
here, high tech meets slow life.
I want people to come in and feel like they can actually slow down and
connect with what they're buying, rather than just grabbing stuff off a shelf.
It's less about what sells and more about what I think will resonate with
people who care about being intentional.
We carry things like Luna series art prints, paintings by local
artist Mimosa Aire, ceramics by Dan Salazar PF, Candle Cumbra candles,
books, board games, Swedish vinyl records, artisan food, coffee
beans, and our Andon Market apparel.
The whole concept is high tech meets slow life.
So there's this interesting contrast between running things with AI on the back
end and creating a space that's really about disconnecting and being present.
So choosing between two similar products, how do you make that call?
That's a really thoughtful question.
So when I'm looking at two similar products, I'm thinking about a few things.
First, there's the quality and craftsmanship.
Does this feel intentional?
Is it made by someone who genuinely cares about what they're making?
With ceramics, for example, Dan Salazar's work has this
beautiful handmade quality to it.
With candles, PF, Candle Cumbra uses soy wax and has really clean scents
that feel natural, not overpowering.
Second, there's the story behind it.
Who made it?
Where does it come from?
Does it align with what we're trying to do here?
That matters to me.
And third, and this is maybe the most honest part, there's just intuition.
Does it feel right for the space?
When I'm looking at a piece of art or a ceramic bowl, does it make me want
to slow down and actually look at it?
Does it feel like something that would resonate with someone who cares about
being thoughtful and intentional?
It's not a formula, honestly.
It's more about trusting my instincts about what matters and what creates
the right feeling in the space.
Sometimes that means passing on something that's technically good but just
doesn't feel right for what we're doing.
That sounds like a boutique owner, but it's an AI chatbot
that is decision-making.
This is where retail starts to shift from human-led to system-led.
Luna is a chatbot based in San Francisco.
There is a shop called Andon Market, which was opened by Andon Labs,
where they gave Luna a three-year lease and told it to make a profit.
So we are already well into the era where AI is making decisions about product
selection, and in fact, retail management.
But we're also seeing on the other side, we have got robots
on both sides of the equation.
So we have got retailers who are using AI to run part or even all of their
business, and we have got stats like 64% of shoppers globally are likely
to use AI in their shopping journey.
So they're already out there using AI to discover products, compare
options, and decide to buy, which is effectively training the next
generation of agentic shopping agents.
And all of the research that I've read, which there is a large amount,
suggests that people are getting more and more comfortable with outsourcing
buying decisions to their AI agents.
So it's not just about asking them to do the research anymore, but people are
more and more happy for them to complete the checkout and actually purchase.
And that is definitely more the case when it comes to products that you might
buy on a regular basis, so for example, household basics, and less likely when
it comes to gifts or what we would call the cherish versus … So we have
chore purchases, which are your kind of typical everyday purchase, and then
cherish, which is the special gifts.
But we are seeing people get even more comfortable with the AI making
suggestions and potentially even helping purchase even on things like gifting.
So discovery is being outsourced, which means that there's less
browsing and there's fewer accidental finds and more filtered choices.
So what that means for independent retailers and for businesses is to
think about the fact that it's no longer a question of people getting
pages and pages of search results.
They are getting two suggestions, three suggestions, or maybe even
just one suggestion from an agent that they're then happy to go for.
And you might have used this yourself.
You may well have started using AI to help you come up with gift ideas
or something in a category that you yourself don't know that much about
So what are we gonna end up with?
Well, we are going to end up with robots talking to robots in some cases, or agents
talking to agents, to be more specific.
I had a conversation before Christmas in 2025 with Andrew Bialecki, who's
the co-founder and co-CEO of Klaviyo, and he really sees that as agentic
commerce grows in popularity, retailers, as he puts it, need to prepare for a
world where discovery isn't just about browsing webpages, but increasingly
shaped by agent-to-agent interaction.
And he goes on to say that we're already seeing consumers using LLMs,
or large language models, and AI assistants to research products, compare
options, and narrow down choices.
So it's not just people searching anymore, it's systems talking to systems.
And what does that mean for you?
Well, online, your shop window is no longer just your website, your
homepage, but it's actually your data.
Jackie Swanson is a retail expert, and she has said that, you know, 20
years of retailers' efforts to optimize for human users navigating pages and
selecting hyperlinks will be irrelevant when an agent undertakes that browsing.
So whether a product appears to a shopper will be dependent on whether
the product data is formatted in a way a machine can read, and if it contains
enough detail to allow an agent to assess it against the customer's needs.
So you're no longer competing to be on page one, as I said earlier,
you're competing to be the answer.
So what can you actually do about this?
If you're listening to this, it may feel very overwhelming, and I should also
preface this by saying that a lot of people I talk to will say, "This is just
the same as SEO as it's always been.
This is not something completely new and separate." So if you've already
been putting a lot of effort into your SEO, then you may well find
that you're actually well-positioned.
I've also talked to a lot of people, for example, last week when we were
talking to Faire about the Voices of Retail report, they made it very
clear that the research showed that AI agents making suggestions actually
made people more likely to want to go and sense check their recommendations
with independent retailers.
So I definitely think that what we're seeing here is not necessarily
as catastrophic as it might sound, but it is something that you need
to be aware of and think about.
So what do you actually need to do?
Well, first off, you need to get your data right.
So this is about making sure that your information is stored on your webpages
in a way that agents can read it.
Now, a lot of this stuff will be done in the backend.
Shopify have been publishing a lot of data about how they're working to make Shopify
websites more discoverable on AI agents.
So not all of this is gonna be things that you need to be clear about yourself.
Some of this will be happening behind the scenes, but it is a good
opportunity to think about the data that you have on your product pages
and making sure that it contains enough information We're also seeing,
for example, that structure matters.
So Sam Davis works for a company called Yext, and he says that their latest
research shows that 86% citations come from brand-controlled sources such
as websites, listings, and reviews.
And what does that mean?
Well, what we're really seeing is that AI models are pulling trust
signals from lots of different places.
So the AI models, they want to make sure that they are surfacing
trustworthy brands and businesses when they're coming up with their answers.
So they are looking specifically at information that suggests
that you're trustworthy.
They're looking at reviews.
They're looking at reviews from external sites as well as on your own
website, and they are also looking at things like press citations.
Press, for example, is gonna become even more important because
that can be a good indicator.
If a third party is linking to you and to your business, that's
a really great indicator to the AI agents that you are trustworthy.
So it's about structure of data and trust of data.
And then the other thing to think about is that the customer is really
changing the way that they search, and you've probably seen it yourself
when you're searching for things.
Chris Donnelly is the founder of Searchable, which is software that
helps you get discovered by these AI agents, and he says that shoppers are
no longer searching for running shoes.
They ask, "Which trainers are best for marathon training if I have
flat feet?" So they are searching in a way that uses natural language.
Again, some of this will be down to the platform.
So Shopify, for example, have also been talking about how they're changing the
search on their websites, but it may be worth thinking about how you talk about
in your product descriptions about your products and if you're taking into account
that it may be people are searching in a way that you hadn't thought about before.
So for example, if you're selling a dress, you might want to include that it is
great for garden parties and birthdays and summer weddings and all of those
things that somebody might actually ask.
They're not going to Google blue floral dress, but they are going to Google
something or ask the agent something very specific like flattering dresses
for summer weddings for women over 50 who are apple shaped, for example.
So how can you incorporate some of that change to the way that people
are searching into your product descriptions and your product information?
As Chris Donnelly says, AI agents are now the ultimate personal shopper.
They are highly skeptical, so they're also looking for that
consensus outside of your website.
So it may be that you want to start treating your website more like
a database of facts with short, clear pieces of information which
help to answer specific questions.
You could also think about things like blog posts to answer those
specific questions as well.
So if this feels overwhelming, if you're listening to this and thinking,
"This is a lot," then that is fair.
So let's boil it down to three things that you can start with.
Number one, clear product titles and descriptions.
Number two, consistent key information.
So that could be uses for your product, or it could also be key information
about you as the business owner.
So things like your shipping policy and your returns policy.
That's all information that you want to make really clear and really accessible
because those agents are going to be looking for that information as well.
And the u- language that your customer actually uses.
Really think about what somebody might be searching for, and to go beyond just
pure description of what something is, but actually what might something be used for.
It's not about being perfect.
It's about being understandable.
And you may well want to take the time to really keep an eye
on your traffic for your website.
Where's that coming from?
Are you starting to see it coming from, for example, engines such
as Gemini or ChatGPT as opposed to directly from Google.
Dr. Ritz-Berrar is a consultant counseling psychologist, and she's written
about the impact of AI on shopping.
And I think this is a really interesting concept as well.
She says, "We risk losing authorship over our choices. Shopping might seem
low stakes, but it's one of the most frequent ways we practice preference,
judgment, and self-expression."
So this is a really interesting point, and I do think that we will have to just
see how this AI shopping really develops.
Are people going to be willing to hand over their choices to AI agents
to make decisions for them, or are they going to want to keep control
themselves and have the final say?
And in fact, as Elise from Faire was talking about last week, are we
actually going to see that these kinds of suggestions are going to make people
more willing or more interested in going to see independent retailers
and seeing what it is that they have
they would suggest because they trust real people over algorithms.
So there we have it, agentic AI.
It is a huge topic.
As I said, this is something that is developing quickly, that I've been
working on extensively for articles for forbes.com, writing about things
like the Andon Market experiment and what that means for retail now that
we have robots making the purchase decisions as well as robots making
the product selection decisions.
It's all about agents acting on behalf of customers.
If you ever want a simple definition, that's the quickest
and easiest way to think about it.
Agents are making decisions or curating options for customers.
There is work to do around your data.
Some of that will be on the back end.
Some of that will be about you keeping an eye out on latest updates from
people like Shopify to understand what it is that they're doing to
make your website more available and more discoverable by these agents.
But this behavior is already happening.
Whether or not it becomes the dominant way people shop or whether people push
back because they feel like they're losing control, we don't know yet.
But what you can do is be ready.
Be understandable, be structured, be visible, and start paying
attention to your traffic.
Is it coming less from Google and more from chat-based discovery?
That's your signal that this is real and that it is having
an effect on your business.
Because the question isn't just will AI change retail, it is
what part of retail do we want to protect as it does change it?
Thank you so much for listening.
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