Artificial intelligence has moved from being a back-office tool to becoming a front-line commercial force. According to the Financial Times, the next major transformation will take place in retail, where generative AI is evolving into a personal shopping companion that knows exactly what we want, when we want it.
The FT reports a remarkable 4,700% increase in traffic directed from AI chat services and browsers to retailer websites over the past year. This signals the rise of what experts now call “agentic commerce”, a marketplace where consumers don’t browse or search in the traditional sense, but rather converse with AI agents that handle product discovery, comparison, and purchase in one seamless interaction.
Recent partnerships, such as Shopify’s collaboration with OpenAI, are turning this into reality. Merchants can soon sell directly within ChatGPT conversations, bypassing websites and ad-driven funnels altogether. For consumers, it’s convenience. For retailers, it’s a fundamental shift in distribution power.
But this new efficiency raises a critical question: if an AI assistant becomes the interface between customer and brand, who owns the relationship? Loyalty may no longer belong to the logo, but to the algorithm.
The FT highlights another emerging layer: autonomous purchasing. As AI learns from our habits and context, it may begin anticipating our needs and ordering on our behalf: from groceries to wardrobe updates, even before we realise we’re running low. This changes the essence of consumer behaviour, from decision to delegation.
