The Tool Desk
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Salesforce reports that agentic-search use as the first shopping step grew 200% year over year, while discovery through newer channels such as AI assistants, social AI and delivery apps grew 38% between August 2025 and May 2026 (Salesforce). NRF/IBM found that 41% of consumers use AI assistants to research products, 33% to find reviews and 31% to search for deals (NRF).
1. Agentic commerce moves from recommendations to actions
AI assistants are beginning to research products, compare offers, assemble baskets and apply constraints such as price, brand, delivery speed or sustainability. McKinsey estimates that agentic-commerce models could orchestrate $3 trillion to $5 trillion in global B2C retail revenue by 2030—a forecast, not current 2026 revenue (McKinsey).
What merchants need
- Complete structured product feeds and explicit attributes.
- Machine-readable prices, stock, delivery, returns and warranty policies.
- Secure delegated-payment and consent flows.
- Separate reporting for AI-referred sessions and orders.
- Approval limits for discounts, substitutions, refunds and recurring purchases.
Adoption, interoperability, trust and liability are unresolved. An agent may also weaken a merchant’s control over presentation, discounting and customer ownership.
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2. Product data becomes a distribution channel
Catalog data determines whether products can be discovered, compared and purchased across AI interfaces, marketplaces, social platforms and commerce protocols. Shopify says its Catalog structures information for channels including ChatGPT, Copilot and Shop, while its Universal Commerce Protocol supports agentic discovery, cart and checkout use cases; these are Shopify product claims, not proof of universal industry adoption (Shopify, Shopify Editions).
Minimum data set
- Factual title, description, brand, model, category, material, dimensions, compatibility, color, size and condition.
- Price, currency, stock status and geographic availability.
- Delivery estimates, cutoff times, returns, exchanges, warranty and subscription terms.
- Accurate images with meaningful alt text, reviews and structured ratings.
- GTIN, SKU, MPN and brand identifiers.
Readable data does not guarantee a favorable recommendation; agents may prioritize price, delivery, ratings, availability or policy quality.
3. AI-native search changes ecommerce visibility
Traditional search remains important, but discovery is spreading into conversational AI, shopping assistants and embedded commerce. Salesforce’s August 2025–May 2026 data shows newer channels gaining share; attribute that finding to Salesforce rather than treating it as a universal census (Salesforce).
The goal is to be correctly understood, accurately represented, included in comparisons, recommended for the right use case and available at the promised price and speed. Vague copy, inconsistent stock and conflicting prices are poor inputs. Measure assisted conversions and margin, not just AI traffic. SEO is diversifying, not disappearing.
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Social now combines discovery, creator content, catalogs, ads, checkout and service. Salesforce says 53% of shoppers discover products on social platforms, up from 46% in 2023. DHL reports that 63% of businesses sell on social while 45% of shoppers buy through social-commerce channels (Salesforce, DHL).
Use shoppable video, livestreams, creator storefronts, native checkout, catalog ads and social service, but balance reach against platform fees, algorithm risk, attribution limits and weaker customer ownership. Capture a compliant first-party relationship through email, SMS, loyalty or accounts.
5. Creator commerce becomes measurable
Creators, affiliates, reviewers and niche experts increasingly operate like a distributed sales force. Use creator links, codes and feeds; define commissions after returns and cancellations; secure content-reuse rights; and comply with disclosure rules.
Track incrementality, not only last-click sales. The creator receiving the final click may not have created demand, while coupon leakage and fraudulent engagement can destroy margin.
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Retailers and marketplaces monetize first-party shopper data through sponsored listings, search ads, display, video and off-site activation. McKinsey identifies retail media as a major growth component of ecommerce (McKinsey).
Evaluate incremental profit, contribution margin and new-customer rate—not gross attributed revenue. Sponsored placements can erode organic relevance, overcharge brands for existing demand and make measurement difficult.
7. First-party data and privacy-safe personalization become infrastructure
Consent-based profiles, purchase history, loyalty and zero-party preferences are increasingly valuable as acquisition costs rise and third-party signals weaken. Deloitte identifies first-party-data control as a foundation for onsite AI and personalization (Deloitte).
- Maintain consent, access, deletion and correction workflows.
- Unify email, SMS, loyalty, purchase and behavioral events.
- Use server-side measurement where appropriate.
- Test each rule for customer value, legal basis, control and profitable impact.
Personalization can also be inaccurate, invasive, discriminatory or expensive.
8. Unified commerce replaces channel silos
Unified commerce connects stores, ecommerce, marketplaces, social orders, service, inventory, pricing and customer records. Capabilities include shared inventory, buy-online-pick-up-in-store, ship-from-store, cross-channel returns and store-assisted orders (Salesforce).
Prioritize a reliable shared data model. Delayed inventory, conflicting promotions, duplicated customers and returns that cannot cross channels create more cost than adding another storefront.
9. Wallets and flexible payments become table stakes
Fast wallets, saved credentials, installments, local methods and potentially agent-authorized payments reduce friction. Salesforce reports increasing mobile-wallet acceptance, particularly Apple Pay (Salesforce). DHL found shoppers use an average of four payment methods while businesses offer seven, so more options do not automatically improve conversion (DHL).
Choose relevant methods by geography and device, then manage fraud, chargebacks, authorization limits, currency conversion, payment recovery and installment regulation. The best checkout shows the right options with minimal friction.
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10. Delivery choice and reliability matter as much as speed
Same-day delivery is useful where economics support it, but customers also value accurate dates, scheduled windows, pickup, lockers, tracking, transparent costs and convenient returns. DHL treats delivery, returns, payments, cross-border trade and sustainability as an interconnected proposition (DHL).
Optimize contribution margin, damage, support cost and promised-versus-actual performance rather than advertising speed you cannot reliably deliver.
11. Returns become a profit, fraud and loyalty problem
Reduce avoidable returns with sizing, compatibility and product-detail content. Consider exchanges, returnless refunds for low-value goods, condition and serial verification, fraud controls, resale, refurbishment and recycling.
The objective is profitable lifetime value after returns. A stricter policy may reduce return volume while also lowering conversion, trust and repeat purchase.
12. Cross-border commerce becomes genuinely localized
Translation alone is not localization. Provide local currency and payments, duties and taxes before checkout, regional inventory, delivery promises, return processes, legal terms, units, service hours and product restrictions. DHL’s 2026 report highlights these differences across markets and between B2C and B2B commerce (DHL).
13. Sustainability shifts into operations and circular commerce
Meaningful work includes less packaging, durable products, repair and spare parts, resale, refurbishment, consolidated delivery and traceable claims. Distinguish emissions reduction from offsets and recyclable packaging from packaging reduction. A carbon-offset checkbox is not an operating strategy.
Upfront complexity or cost may be offset by less waste, fewer returns and longer product life; effects vary by category and customer.
14. Replenishment, subscriptions and predictive retention mature
Consumables, pet products, beauty, household goods and business supplies can benefit from subscribe-and-save, reorder reminders and usage-based replenishment. Provide easy skip, pause, swap and cancellation controls, inventory-aware orders and transparent price and shipping changes.
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Hidden enrollment, stockout renewals, mistimed orders and margin-destroying discounts turn convenience into churn.
15. Visual, immersive and conversational experiences expand
Image search, video demonstrations, virtual try-on, 3D, augmented reality and guided product conversations are most useful when they resolve uncertainty. Apparel benefits from fit tools; furniture from room visualization; beauty from guided matching; electronics from compatibility assistants; complex B2B products from configuration.
These tools cost more and can increase returns if poorly calibrated. Use them to answer questions about fit, scale, color, compatibility or configuration—not merely to appear innovative (Salesforce).
What is truly new in 2026?
Mobile commerce, personalization, omnichannel retail and social marketing are established. What has materially accelerated is agentic purchasing, AI-native discovery, machine-readable commerce protocols, AI-mediated checkout, AI merchandising, retail-media integration and operational automation. Nearly three-quarters of consumers still shop in stores, according to NRF, so digital and physical journeys are becoming interdependent rather than one replacing the other (NRF).
Priorities by business size
Small and midsize merchants
- Fix product, inventory, delivery and policy data.
- Improve checkout and wallets.
- Build social, creator and first-party retention programs.
- Use selective AI support or merchandising with human review.
- Delay expensive custom agents, 3D catalogs and enterprise replatforming unless data proves the need.
Enterprise retailers
Prioritize unified customer and inventory data, AI governance, agentic readiness, retail media, cross-border operations, store integration and returns optimization. NRF and PwC emphasize cybersecurity, legal responsibility and operational controls for agentic AI (NRF).
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical 2026 prioritization framework
Score each initiative from 1 to 5 for customer impact, revenue potential, maturity, data readiness, operational burden, reversibility, platform dependence and risk.
| Priority | Typical action |
|---|---|
| First | Catalog, inventory, checkout, delivery, returns and consent data |
| Next | AI-assisted service, social and creator testing, first-party retention |
| Then | AI-search visibility, agentic integrations and selective retail media |
| Later | Immersive, predictive or major unified-commerce investments justified by measured demand |
90-day implementation roadmap
First 30 days
- Audit catalog completeness and structured attributes.
- Verify inventory, delivery promises and checkout failures.
- Map consented customer data and analyze returns by SKU.
Days 31–90
- Improve machine-readable product and policy content.
- Test creators, social commerce and relevant wallets.
- Add AI-assisted support with human escalation.
- Report AI referrals and assisted conversions separately.
Six to twelve months
- Evaluate unified-commerce architecture and agentic integrations.
- Expand cross-border, retail-media or immersive capabilities only where economics support them.
Metrics that prevent expensive mistakes
- AI-assisted sessions and orders; structured-attribute coverage.
- Conversion, gross margin after advertising and fulfillment, and new-customer rate by channel.
- Repeat purchase, lifetime value after returns, subscription churn and skip rate.
- Return rate by SKU and source; promised-versus-actual delivery.
- Payment authorization, checkout abandonment, support contacts per order and inventory accuracy.
- Incremental retail-media revenue rather than attributed revenue alone.
Commerce platforms and buying considerations
Shopify
Shopify suits small and midsize brands selling across web, social, marketplaces, AI channels and stores. Its pricing page listed, on August 16, 2026, Basic at $29/month, Grow at $79, Advanced at $299 when billed yearly, Plus from $2,300/month on a three-year term, Agentic at $0/month plus payment when a sale occurs, and POS Pro at an additional $89/month per location. Country, billing cycle, plan, transaction rates and Shopify Payments use change the total cost (Shopify pricing).
Shopify Plus targets higher-volume, international and B2B operations needing advanced checkout, APIs and support. Shopify notes that complex businesses may incur variable fees, so the starting price is not a complete estimate (Shopify Plus). Shopify says non-Shopify businesses may sync products to Catalog; verify eligibility before relying on that route (Shopify Editions).
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Commerce Cloud fits enterprise unified commerce, data and personalization. Public pricing was not stated; require a full estimate covering implementation, integrations, migration, support and data (Salesforce Commerce).
TikTok Shop and connected tools
TikTok’s Shopify integration supports catalog, order and advertising connections, making it useful for creator-led testing (TikTok). Test profit after commissions, ads, returns and fulfillment instead of assuming reach converts.
Payment options include Shopify Payments, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Adyen, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. McKinsey describes Visa pilots allowing agents to spend within user-set budgets and consent parameters; this is pilot-stage development, not universal availability (McKinsey). Evaluate tokenization, delegated authorization, fraud, disputes, refunds, APIs and reconciliation.
Retention and service tools such as Klaviyo, Gorgias, Zendesk, Recharge, Yotpo, Shippo, ShipStation, ReturnGo and Loop Returns can solve specific bottlenecks. Check current plans and integrations before buying, and avoid overlapping systems that duplicate customer records or automation.
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The Bottom Line
Choose three priorities for 2026: one discovery or acquisition improvement, one conversion or trust improvement, and one operational or retention improvement. Build the data, consent, fulfillment and measurement foundations first; adopt agents, immersive interfaces and new channels only when they solve a demonstrated customer or margin problem.
Quick Recap
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