At Shoptalk 2026, AI’s influence on commerce showed up in three clear ways: The rise of agentic shopping, a shift toward more focused and outcome-driven AI applications, and tighter integration between content, creators, and transactions.

Underpinning all three is the understanding that execution is accelerating, but adoption and results remain uneven.

Agentic commerce accelerates ahead of consumer adoption

Agentic commerce dominated the conversation at Shoptalk. Many executives pointed to a future where AI agents manage large parts of the shopping journey.

“As shopping shifts from traditional search to AI-generated answers, brands need to show up not just in search engines, but in answer engines,” wrote Sven Gerjets, chief technology officer at Gap Inc., in a LinkedIn post. “That means structured, AI-ready data that can travel across platforms while still maintaining the customer relationship.”

However, agentic infrastructure is being built faster than the underlying consumer behavior is evolving, said our analyst Sarah Marzano.

“While there’s a growing sense of urgency around what this could mean for retail media and ecommerce, there’s much less clarity on how quickly, or whether, adoption, transactions, and monetization will follow,” she said. “In that kind of environment, it’s never been more important to anchor decisions in data and to distinguish between preparing for change and reallocating meaningful capital ahead of proof.”

For marketers, this means understanding how agent-driven journeys could affect media, merchandising, and conversion before shifting large portions of budget toward unproven channels.

AI moves from hype to hands-on

From sizing tools to richer product discovery experiences, brands and retailers are actively experimenting with a wide range of AI use cases.

• In his keynote, Gerjets spoke about how Gap is focusing its AI efforts on fit and sizing, addressing a high-friction point in the purchase journey.
• Meanwhile, Meta announced it’s using AI to improve post-click experiences by surfacing reviews, recommendations, and product details at key decision moments, as well as testing more seamless in-app checkout.
• Sephora has launched a dedicated app within ChatGPT that allows customers to access loyalty rewards and member benefits, with plans to eventually support in-app payments and checkout.

“The overarching theme of Shoptalk this year, AI in retail, has really put the technology in the spotlight,” said our analyst Sky Canaves. “It’s sparked a wave of conversations and debates that underscore just how much experimentation is needed right now. With so many differing perspectives and no clear roadmap for how these developments will unfold, there’s a strong and growing willingness across the industry to test, learn, and iterate.”

The lines between content, creators, and commerce continue to blur

The connection between content and commerce is becoming more tightly integrated, with discovery, influence, and transaction increasingly happening in the same environments.

Meta announced new tools that give creators more ways to tag and recommend products directly within their content, along with expanded affiliate partnerships across Facebook and early testing on Instagram. These updates reflect how platforms are embedding commerce more deeply into content ecosystems and enabling creators to play a more direct role in driving sales.

This momentum reinforces the growing influence of creators in product discovery. As shopping journeys become more fragmented and AI introduces additional layers between brands and consumers, trust is taking on greater importance in how people evaluate options.

Amanda Bailey, Lowe’s vice president of customer marketing and loyalty, spoke to this dynamic on stage, highlighting how the retailer is leaning into its creator network to build credibility, particularly with younger consumers.

“Creators give us credibility,” she said. Consumers are “going to creators for ideas, inspiration, tips. They’re not just going there for ‘What products do I buy?’ But, ‘How do I use them? Is it worth it? Does it fit into my life?’”

The role of creators is especially important amid the rise of AI-driven commerce.

“Brands can't abandon all of the brand building work that they need to do because most AI assistant shoppers, when they get an AI product recommendation, they then go and do their own research outside of AI,” said Canaves, citing data from a March 2026 survey from EMARKETER and Publicis Commerce. "They're still looking for those trust signals and content that will help them to validate their purchasing decisions.”

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