Retailers are sprinting toward agentic AI commerce—but in doing so, many may be handing over the very asset they’ve spent decades building: direct relationships with customers.
In early 2026, major retailers including Target, Walmart, and Etsy expanded partnerships with external AI platforms such as Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot. All three had already integrated product listings into ChatGPT last year.
The strategy is straightforward: consumers are increasingly starting their shopping journeys inside AI assistants, not search engines or retail websites. The risk, however, is far less obvious—and potentially far more disruptive.
From Storefronts to AI Agents: A Structural Shift
Agentic AI commerce allows AI systems to handle discovery, comparison, recommendation, and even checkout on behalf of users. In effect, the AI becomes the “store,” while retailers supply inventory in the background.
That shift could be as transformative as the rise of e-commerce itself. As Kartik Hosanagar of the University of Pennsylvania puts it, the technology may shake up retail the way the internet once did—by changing who controls access to consumers.
Retail leaders appear to agree. At the National Retail Federation’s 2026 Big Show, executives including Kecia Steelman and Mary Beth Laughton described AI as a force that will touch every corner of the business, from marketing to merchandising to fulfillment.
Why Retailers Feel They Have No Choice
The pull of AI platforms is backed by data. According to Adobe’s 2025 Holiday Shopping report, AI-driven U.S. e-commerce traffic surged 758% year over year between early November and early December, with Cyber Monday AI traffic jumping 670%.
Retailers argue they must “meet customers where they are.” John Furner echoed that logic publicly, framing AI partnerships as an extension of omnichannel retail rather than a replacement for owned platforms.
Consultants largely agree that consumer adoption will deepen. Kearney partner Katherine Black notes that as retailers’ AI capabilities improve, consumers will use these tools for more shopping scenarios, not fewer.
The Hidden Cost: Data and Disintermediation
The real danger lies in what retailers may be giving up. Traditionally, every click, search, and scroll on a retailer’s site provides rich behavioral data. That data fuels personalization, pricing strategies, and long-term loyalty.
When the entire journey happens inside an AI platform, much of that context disappears.
“Whoever controls the agents now has the power,” Hosanagar warns. Deloitte’s 2026 Retail Industry Global Outlook reinforces the concern: 81% of retail executives surveyed believe generative AI will weaken brand loyalty by 2027.
That fear was on display when Sundar Pichai demonstrated Gemini’s end-to-end commerce capabilities—discovery, decision, and purchase—at NRF. To critics like Nikki Baird of retail tech firm Aptos, the implication was clear: if Google owns the journey, retailers lose the narrative.
Pichai stressed partnership and shared success, but even shared data can be incomplete. Missing context means weaker insights—and weaker differentiation.
When Retailers Become Fulfillment Engines
The ultimate risk is disintermediation. If consumers research, choose, and buy products entirely within AI platforms, retailers risk becoming invisible utilities—reduced to fulfillment providers with shrinking margins.
This may explain why Amazon has resisted listing products on ChatGPT, instead investing heavily in its own AI assistants like Rufus and the newly launched Alexa+ experience. Control over the customer interface remains central to Amazon’s strategy.
What Comes Next for AI Commerce
Despite the risks, opting out may not be realistic. As AI platforms increasingly mediate consumer intent, absence could mean irrelevance.
The more likely future is a tense coexistence: retailers will participate in external AI ecosystems while simultaneously racing to build their own agents, data pipelines, and loyalty hooks. The winners will be those that treat AI not as a new storefront, but as a negotiable channel—one that must be balanced carefully against ownership of customer relationships.
Retail’s AI disruption, it seems, is only just beginning.
Source: Based on reporting from Retail Dive