How retailers can prepare for the rise of AI shopping bots
AI agents understand customer preferences, bypass intermediaries and remove price asymmetries paving the way for shopping bots to significantly disrupt traditional retail models.
AI has the potential to dramatically reshape the way customers shop, and industry leaders are scrambling to create the killer app that will dominate the space. Is it here yet? Not quite — but we’re getting close.
In the past six months, a major e-commerce player, two payment giants, and an AI technology company have all announced or launched early-stage AI shopping bots — intelligent assistants that can search for products, compare prices, read reviews, and even complete purchases on behalf of customers.
Once widely adopted, AI shopping bots could significantly disrupt traditional retail models. Historically, the retailers who succeeded were those who best curated and managed physical store inventory, or who most effectively linked a customer’s online search to their product range.
AI agents challenge these fundamentals. They understand customer preferences more deeply, bypass intermediaries, remove price asymmetries, and handle the more tedious administrative aspects of shopping.
This impact is especially pronounced in models like marketplaces and loyalty programs, which rely heavily on range and value. Who wants to spend hours navigating clunky marketplaces if they don’t have to? How valuable is a loyalty program’s discounts and special offers if an AI bot always finds the lowest price — or integrates its own rewards system?
However, these agents are not without fragility. A loss of customer trust from breaches in data and privacy could quickly erode the strength of their value proposition.
So, what are the implications for retailers? The bottom line is that standing out on value has never mattered more. In a landscape where digital-native companies are leading the way in building AI agents, most traditional retailers may not even get a chance to compete in this space.
That makes doubling down on value critical. With an agent choosing from infinite options, price and value become the deciding factors. Pushing products into the market at the most competitive prices ensures they’re surfaced to customers more often.
This favours discount retailers but could leave mid-tier retailers struggling. And naturally, any price-driven competition is likely to compress margins across the sector.
Retailers with scale and influence may also choose to invest in personalisation, search, or agent-driven websites, enhancing the customer experience within their own ecosystems. Partnering with others, strengthening loyalty programs, and offering high-quality products may help retain customers who would otherwise turn to AI shopping bots.
There is also a world where an agent-to-agent economy allows a retailer’s website agent to interact with customer shopping agents and offer curated, ring-fenced range and more dynamic pricing to remain competitive.
A strategic shift in marketing will also be necessary. If AI agents gain traction, new shopping agent promotional channels will emerge (e.g. preferential placement in draft shopping baskets). Depending on the retailer, this may require a re-allocation of marketing dollars from traditional media channels.
Physical stores, too, will need to evolve. While they will likely incorporate AI into omni-channel strategies, they must also offer something unique.
To compete with the ease of digital agents, brick-and-mortar retail must become more experiential — entertaining, surprising, and rewarding shoppers who visit in person.
This shift could also reinvigorate loyalty programs. For these programs, shopping agents are as much of an opportunity as they are a threat, given that the value of loyalty programs often lies in linking in-store and online transactions to create a rich dataset that can enhance agent functionality.
However, failing to adapt could mean losing relevance in online shopping. So, what options do loyalty programs have?
One is to build their own AI agents. Many programs already have extensive customer data and might be tempted to compete — especially with the right technology and last mile delivery partnerships. But few loyalty programs span multiple brands, which is a key requirement to compete in this space. Single-brand programs lack the reach to rival AI agents that search across dozens of retailers.
Another option is for loyalty programs to integrate with whichever AI shopping agents emerge as leaders. These programs offer key differentiators: rewards and data.
The insights loyalty programs provide into customer behaviour across both physical and digital touchpoints could greatly enhance AI agents’ relevance and utility. In return, loyalty programs would gain access to a new, high-value channel and could even increase online engagement.
The rise of AI shopping agents marks a turning point for retail. Customers will no doubt adopt them with enthusiasm once they figure out how much time and money they can save.
To stay competitive, retailers can’t stick their fingers in their ears: they must double down on value, improve their digital presence, embrace emerging AI agent channels, and explore how loyalty programs can not only adapt to, but enhance, the agent ecosystem.
Harsha Maddipatla is Partner, Retail Strategy, at Monitor Deloitte.
 
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