Retailers adapt to the rise of AI-driven commerce and agent-to-agent shopping

The retail industry is undergoing a shift toward AI-driven commerce, moving from simple recommendation tools to autonomous agent-to-agent transactions. Researchers at Columbia Business School have simulated marketplaces to study how AI agents might eventually handle purchasing decisions without direct human intervention at the final checkout.

Major retailers are already adapting their strategies to capture this emerging market. In South Korea, Lotte Department Store is implementing Generative AI Search Optimization (GEO) to ensure its store information and benefits are accurately represented in AI-generated answers. Hyundai Department Store utilizes its own AI assistant, ‘Heidi’, to design personalized shopping routes based on store-specific data, while Shinsegae Department Store focuses on analyzing purchase history to proactively suggest products and benefits.

Globally, the trend is gaining momentum. The UK-based retailer John Lewis reported that product searches via AI agents rose to 2.5% of its total, an eightfold increase from the previous year. To support this, the retailer has invested in content creation studios to ensure brand information is readily available for AI models to reference when generating recommendations.