The latest Watson Weekend podcast episode, hosted by Rick Watson and Jessica Lesesky, discusses recent retail developments, including the elimination of the de minimis rule impacting U.S. imports, Starbucks' Taylor Swift-themed in-store experience to regain customers, Instacart 's integration with Tiktok for retail media targeting, and Paypal 's 5% cash back offer on BNPL purchases to boost holiday sales. 

The Watson Weekend is sponsored by Mirakl because growth isn't about just speed. It's about direction. Mirakl gives you the infrastructure to scale smarter, not just faster, with marketplace, dropship, retail media, and a seller platform built for what's next and powered by AI.

The episode features an interview with John Andrews, CEO and Co-founder of Cimulate, who shares his extensive e-commerce background from Endeca to Nike and now AI-driven commerce. John explains how Cimulate uses large language models and synthetic personas to enhance search and merchandising by understanding customer intent and context, enabling more personalized and conversational shopping experiences. He stresses that while AI advances are transformative, human merchants remain vital, and retailers must prepare for rapid shifts in commerce technology.. 

Welcome to The Watson Weekend - 00:00:00

Headline Hangover - 00:03:15

Introducing John Andrews - 00:19:00

Shopping in 2028 - 00:25:02

What's different - 00:36:05

Search is not solved 00:40:22

Are retailers ready for an agentic world? - 00:53:41

End of the show 1:02:56

#watsonweekend #ai #artificialintelligence #agenticcommerce #search

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