Agentic AI Set to Transform Retail Shopping Experience
Retail giants like Amazon and Walmart are investing in agentic AI to create autonomous shopping assistants that can act without user inputs, signaling a shift from generative AI.
Retail giants like Amazon and Walmart are betting big on agentic AI, a new wave of artificial intelligence that promises to revolutionize the online shopping experience. Unlike current generative AI assistants, which rely on user inputs to generate responses, agentic AI systems are designed to act autonomously, completing tasks like purchasing products or reordering items without constant prompts.
What is Agentic AI?
Agentic AI represents a significant leap from generative AI, which gained popularity with tools like ChatGPT. While generative AI can summarize reviews or answer product questions, agentic AI goes further by making decisions and taking actions independently. For example:
- Walmart’s Sparky: Initially a generative AI tool, Walmart aims to evolve it into an agentic AI assistant that can reorder items or book services based on a customer’s history.
- Amazon’s "Buy-for-Me": This pilot feature uses agentic AI to purchase items from third-party sites on behalf of customers, automating the checkout process.
Industry Adoption and Challenges
According to a Forrester report, agentic AI is poised to become the backbone of the knowledge economy. However, challenges remain:
- Trust: Only 23% of U.S. online adults are comfortable sharing personal data with AI tools, per Forrester.
- Technical Hurdles: Agentic AI systems still lack the ability to fully understand complex shopper behaviors.
- Definitions: Some retailers conflate agentic AI with AI agents, creating confusion.
The Road Ahead
Retailers are investing now to future-proof their AI capabilities. As Emily Pfeiffer of Forrester notes, the key differentiator is autonomy: "Agentic AI systems can perform tasks with minimal human intervention." Meanwhile, companies like Botify are helping brands optimize their data for AI-driven search platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
While the technology is still evolving, one thing is clear: agentic AI is set to redefine retail, making shopping more seamless—and more autonomous—than ever before.
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About the Author
Dr. Emily Wang
AI Product Strategy Expert
Former Google AI Product Manager with 10 years of experience in AI product development and strategy formulation. Led multiple successful AI products from 0 to 1 development process, now provides product strategy consulting for AI startups while writing AI product analysis articles for various tech media outlets.