Retailgentic | Consumer Behavior & Retail Trend

In this episode, Scot Wingo is joined by Forrester retail analyst Sucharita Kodali to dive into the emerging world of agentic shopping and the growing influence of generative AI in commerce. They cover:

- The explosion of retail media networks
- Why marketplaces are making a comeback
- OpenAI’s retail ambitions (and that Instacart CEO hire)
- GenAI adoption across retail use cases
- The rising threat to Google from TikTok and AI search
- What’s actually agentic vs. “faugentic”

⏱ Notable Timestamps:

00:06 – What is Retailgenic and what’s at stake in AI shopping
03:00 – Why retail media networks exploded post-COVID
07:30 – Instacart’s ad business & the OpenAI CEO move
10:00 – How big retailers are actually using GenAI today
14:00 – Is Google search under threat from ChatGPT, TikTok & Perplexity?
20:00 – Agentic shopping: hype vs. reality
26:00 – Could AI replace ticket brokers and influence high-demand shopping?
31:00 – The power of TikTok shopping and influencer-led discovery
33:00 – Closing thoughts on what’s truly “agentic” vs. faugentic

👉 Subscribe for more deep dives into the AI commerce revolution: https://www.retailgentic.com
📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.

In this episode of Retailgentic, Scot Wingo is joined by Michelle Grant, Director of Strategy & Insights for Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce. Michelle brings powerful insights from Salesforce’s massive retail data sets, surveys, and first-hand industry experience.

They dive deep into:

🧠 How Gen Z is driving the adoption of AI shopping agents
📊 Data from Salesforce’s Connected Shoppers Report
🤖 Where AI agents are showing up in real-world retail—from customer service to marketing and inventory
📈 What brands and retailers must do to stay relevant in the agentic future
💬 Why websites aren’t going away—but will need to evolve fast

If you want to understand the real-world impact of generative and agentic AI in commerce, this episode is a must-watch.

0:00 - Intro and Michelle’s background 
2:00 - What Michelle does at Salesforce 
5:45 - Salesforce’s data sources: Commerce Cloud + surveys 
8:00 - GenAI traffic trends (Q1 2025 data) 
10:30 - AI agent traffic from ChatGPT & Gemini 
12:00 - Social vs. search vs. agentic behavior 
14:10 - Connected Shoppers Report overview 
15:00 - Gen Z adoption of AI agents 
18:20 - What consumers want AI agents to do (customer service, returns, loyalty) 
22:00 - Retailer adoption of agentic tools 
26:00 - The future of retail websites 
30:00 - Hyper-personalization and AI memory 
35:00 - Final thoughts on retail strategy in the AI era

📰 Make sure to subscribe to the Retailgentic Substack: https://www.retailgentic.com
📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.

Welcome to the very first episode of the Retailgentic Podcast, your guide to the fast-emerging world where AI agents meet retail and e-commerce.

In this foundational episode, host Scot Wingo lays out:

• Why AI shopping agents may be even more disruptive than marketplaces
• What “agentic commerce” actually means (and what doesn’t count)
• Who the major players are today — and who’s coming next
• The three phases of the shopping journey: Research → Find → Buy
• What brands and retailers need to consider: Embrace or block?
• The emerging payment protocols and agentic frameworks
• Key predictions about Apple, Meta, Stripe, and the Chinese players
• Why loyalty, personalization, and strategy are all about to be rewritten

Whether you’re a retailer, brand exec, investor, or just AI-curious, this episode sets the stage for everything to come.

📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai
📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.

Welcome to Retailgentic, the podcast where we explore the fast-evolving intersection of retail, ecommerce, and Agentic AI, what we call Retailgentic.

Hosted by Scot Wingo, this show is your partner in navigating a future where AI agents shop on behalf of humans, reshaping everything from payments and checkout to customer loyalty and digital advertising.

In this trailer, we introduce the mission, stakes, and big questions ahead. If you’re a brand, retailer, or vendor looking to stay ahead of the curve, you’re in the right place.

🎧 Subscribe now and get ready to rethink retail as we know it.