Future Commerce

Oreos are Baptist, Biscotti are Anglican, and we're losing our minds. Cookie theology, meme reality, mass hallucinations, the price of attention, and more on the full After Dark episode – accessible to Future Commerce Plus members.

Recording LIVE from the show floor of Shoptalk Spring 2026, the Future Commerce team brings our hottest takes and deepest insights from this year’s event. PLUS: We celebrated the launch of our newest zine, STRATA Vol. 001, with over 150 of our favorite people (including Snoop Dogg?). Get your copy at futurecommerce.com/strata.

Armand Wilson, Chief Revenue Officer at Whatnot, joins Phillip and Brian to unpack why live shopping finally took hold in the West. Drawing from Whatnot’s recent 2026 State of Live Selling Report, we trace the platform's origin from a niche Funko Pop marketplace to an $8B GMV juggernaut after landing $225 million in Series F funding.

Zia Daniell Wigder, Global President of Shoptalk and Groceryshop, joins Brian and Alicia to mark Shoptalk's 10th anniversary and unpack the themes defining the spring show in Las Vegas. (Hint: AI isn't the headline, it's the backdrop.) A week before one of retail’s biggest, most beloved shows, Zia maps the tensions, the conversations, and the hot topics shaping the next era of retail events.

As ChatGPT pulls back on native in-app checkout, malls becomemainstream again. Is agentic commerce ready for primetime, or are consumers seeking more analog experiences? PLUS: Dick's Sporting Goods' loyalty loop that turns steps into spending power, and a dystopian new platform that rents out humans for AI agents that can't operate in the physical world. Everything old is new again.

Phillip and Brian get deep on a week when everything felt a little unhinged: Shopify's AI sidekick started building custom apps, Iran allegedly took out AWS data centers mid-Claude-outage, and the McDonald's CEO went mega-viral just days after Phillip prophesied it. Underneath the chaos, a throughline emerges: the things we've used to measure value (view counts, credit card rewards, third-party apps, and AI contracts) are quietly expiring. Culture is first. Then comes commerce.

We’re live and poolside at the close of eTail Palm Springs. This year’s conference brought less theory and more proof, from agentic platforms doing actual operational work to the quiet rise of go-to-market tooling among merchants. One thing is clear: AI stopped talking and started shipping. Brian and Phillip break down the sessions, hallway conversations, and briefings that mattered most, and dive into their marathon week of discussions with companies including CommerceIQ, Attentive, Resolve AI, Decile, Modem, and more.

Jonathan Cohen, CMO of Onyx Global Group (Pure Daily Care & Aquasonic), joins Phillip and Alicia to trace the arc from Amazon-first launches to TikTok Shop dominance. This week, we unpack the unmeasurable and explore what it actually means to cede your marketing playbook to a creator economy that doesn't need your permission.

In just one year, Daily Harvest was acquired by Chobani, dropped its subscription requirement, and launched a campaign calling out the wellness hype machine. CEO Ricky Silver joins us to talk about the facts in an industry dominated by fiction.

Most Super Bowl ads failed before they aired. Dr. Marcus Collins explains why. We break down the Super Bowl as a cultural spectacle: the ads, the Bad Bunny halftime show, and the Levi's strategy that no one is talking about.