March 17, 2026

Conversation and Context Define the Future of Commerce with Salesforce CMO Commerce Gordon Evans

17 minutes

In this episode of the Shift AI Podcast, Gordon Evans, CMO of Commerce Cloud at Salesforce, joins host Boaz Ashkenazy live from Dreamforce in San Francisco for a conversation on how AI agents are reshaping commerce across both B2C and B2B.

Gordon breaks down the full scope of Salesforce’s commerce portfolio—from the well-known B2C platform powering brands like Pandora and L’Oréal, to B2B commerce, order management, and the recently acquired PredictSpring point-of-sale capability. Together, these pieces deliver what Salesforce calls unified commerce: the same product, inventory, and customer view whether you’re engaging online or in-store.

The conversation dives into how AgentForce Commerce is bringing AI-powered personalization to retail. Gordon shares how Pandora’s Gemma agent has driven a 10% increase in NPS by handling customer service with the nuance of a knowledgeable store associate, and how Williams Sonoma’s Olive agent helps shoppers plan everything from Thanksgiving dinner to table decor. The discussion explores why great data is the foundation for effective agents, how B2B buyers deserve the same seamless experience as consumers, and why natural language interfaces are collapsing the technical barrier between businesses and their customers.

Boaz and Gordon also examine the evolving trust dynamic around AI in commerce—how the pandemic accelerated consumer willingness to trade data for speed and convenience, and how that same value exchange is now driving adoption of AI agents. Gordon shares how his own team uses internal LLMs and Slack bots to move faster, and why learning to ask the right questions is becoming the most important professional skill.

This episode is essential listening for commerce leaders, retail strategists, and product teams who want to understand how AI agents are moving beyond customer service into full shopping experiences—and why conversation and context are the two words that define what comes next.

Chapters

[00:00] What It Means to Be CMO of Commerce at Salesforce

[02:15] AgentForce Commerce and the Unified Commerce Vision

[03:37] PredictSpring, Point of Sale, and Bringing It All Together

[04:20] Personalization Powered by Data and AI Agents

[05:58] Why B2B Buyers Deserve the Same Experience as Consumers

[07:30] First Job, Worst Job with Gordon Evans

[09:30] How AI Tools Are Changing the Daily Work of Marketing

[11:20] Pandora, Williams Sonoma, and the Rise of Brand Agents

[13:50] Trust, Credit Cards, and the Speed-Convenience Value Exchange

[15:00] Two Words for the Future of Work: Conversational and Context

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