Data ownership and the potential disintermediation of retailers are chief among the risks that external AI commerce poses to the industry in 2026.Meeting your customer where they’re at doesn’t necessarily come without a price, according to some industry experts.“What we expect is that consumers will deepen their engagement,” Katherine Black, a partner at Kearney leading food, drug and mass market retail, told Retail Dive via email. “More consumers will use it for shopping and for more types of shopping. As ...

Core Viewpoint - JD Sports Fashion is leveraging AI platforms to enhance customer experience in the U.S., its largest market, allowing customers to search and purchase products more efficiently [1][2][3] Group 1: AI Integration - JD Sports has partnered with commercetools and Stripe to enable AI-driven searches and secure payment processes for customers using platforms like Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini, and OpenAI's ChatGPT [2] - This initiative is seen as a significant advancement in online shopping, positioning JD ahead in the retail industry's shift towards AI [3] Group 2: Market Presence and Financial Outlook - JD Sports operates over 2,500 stores in the U.S. under various brands and generates over 40% of its global sales from this market [1] - The company is set to release a trading update for the Christmas quarter on January 21, following a forecast of annual profit at the lower end of market expectations due to economic concerns [3] - JD's shares increased by 1.2%, reducing the annual loss to 11.8% [4]

Core Insights - Rezolve Ai is experiencing strong customer momentum and demand for its AI-driven engagement platform as retailers shift from search to conversational commerce [1][10] Group 1: Commercial Wins and Deployments - VogaCloset has fully launched Rezolve's Conversational Commerce, with over 60% of shoppers using image uploads to discover products [2] - Snapdeal, one of India's top online marketplaces, signed a multi-year agreement with Rezolve after a successful proof of concept [4] - AJIO, Reliance Retail's flagship fashion platform, renewed its partnership with Rezolve, activating additional capabilities [5] Group 2: Customer Expansion and Renewals - Rezolve secured millions in renewals and upsells across various sectors, validating measurable ROI and deepening platform adoption [6] - Major brands in quick service restaurants, wholesale, grocery, and sports are expanding their use cases from conversational discovery to real-time engagement [6] Group 3: Regional Growth and Strategic Partnerships - Rezolve is live in production with GAP and Banana Republic in Mexico, operating at enterprise scale across multiple languages [7] - The company is engaging in live market evaluations with hyperscale partners in LATAM, leading to active commercial discussions [8] Group 4: New Market Opportunities - New wins include partnerships with Qatar Airways and ongoing discussions with major US sports organizations [9] - The CEO of Rezolve Ai emphasized that the transition from search to conversation leads to increased engagement and conversion rates [10]

Summary of BigCommerce FY Conference Call Company Overview - **Company**: BigCommerce (NasdaqGM: BIGC) - **Industry**: E-commerce platform Key Points and Arguments Performance and Market Trends - The company reported a good start to the quarter, with expectations to see how the full holiday season plays out [3][4] - There has been a notable shift in the industry towards technology impacting discoverability and traffic, particularly with the rise of large language models (LLMs) [5][6] - Merchants are experiencing traffic changes but lack visibility on traffic sources due to reduced pixel tracking capabilities [6][8] - The demand environment has shifted, with less impact from tariffs than initially expected [7][8] Transformation and Growth Strategy - BigCommerce is undergoing a significant transformation, focusing on operational improvements and integrating acquisitions more effectively [11][12] - The company aims to shift from a sales-led growth model to a product-led growth model, enhancing customer retention and expansion [13][17] - New product initiatives include a freemium model for Feedonomics, aimed at making data transformation services more accessible [19][20] - The company is focusing on improving net revenue retention rates, which have been around 100%, with a target of 105%-108% for better performance [22][23] Product Development and Market Position - BigCommerce is introducing a branded payments solution to simplify transactions for small and mid-market businesses [26][28] - The company is committed to maintaining flexibility for customers while also providing integrated solutions to enhance user experience [29][30] - Partnerships with firms like Accenture are being leveraged to enhance service offerings without becoming a services business [37][38] Competitive Landscape and Future Outlook - The e-commerce landscape is evolving, with LLMs changing the discoverability and search experience, potentially impacting traditional search engines [41][42] - BigCommerce sees itself as a key player in the Merchant of Record lane, focusing on compliance and collaboration with other players in the market [43][44] - The company is cautious about entering new markets or expanding through M&A, preferring to build and partner strategically [34][35] Financial Health and Efficiency - BigCommerce has improved its financial profile, becoming profitable and cash-flow positive while reducing net debt by over 90% in the last 18 months [50][52] - The focus remains on improving customer acquisition costs and overall efficiency to drive better growth and profitability [48][53] Conclusion - BigCommerce is positioned to enhance its growth trajectory through strategic transformations, product innovations, and improved customer engagement, while navigating the evolving e-commerce landscape and competitive pressures [54][55]

Core Insights - Amazon's shares are outperforming the NASDAQ, with a focus on e-commerce during the holiday shopping season, particularly Black Friday and Cyber Monday [1] - The company is attempting to enhance its AI strategy with the introduction of Alexa Plus, which aims to improve user interaction and leverage its existing Echo device ecosystem [2][4] AI Strategy - Alexa Plus is designed to facilitate more natural conversations and remember user contacts, positioning Amazon to compete in the voice AI market [2] - Despite holding a 61% market share in the US smart speaker segment, Amazon has struggled to translate this into significant AI advancements, while competitors like Google have gained momentum with their TPU chips [3][5] Competitive Landscape - Alphabet's shares have surged nearly 70% this year, contrasting with Amazon's less than 6% increase, highlighting the competitive pressure in the AI space [5] - The return of Google co-founder Sergey Brin to lead AI initiatives raises questions about Amazon's ability to leverage its consumer base for AI development beyond AWS [4] Consumer Interaction - Early reviews of Alexa Plus indicate improvements in chatbot capabilities, but the real test will be its effectiveness in executing orders for household items [9][10] - There is skepticism regarding consumer usage of Echo devices for ordering, as many users report mistakes and limited engagement with the technology [8] Future Outlook - The upcoming holiday shopping season is expected to shift towards AI-driven commerce, with analysts suggesting that Amazon needs to establish a stronger presence in this area [7]

E-commerce Evolution with AI - E-commerce has evolved from physical stores to online platforms, and AI is now digitizing participants and their interactions, moving from static websites to merchant and consumer agents [1][2][5] - The goal remains transaction completion, but the focus shifts to dynamic, real-time, and generative interfaces for both human and agentic consumers [6][7] Challenges and Solutions in the Agentic Commerce - The industry faces challenges in enabling software agents to complete transactions, with solutions including delegated authentication via partners like Visa [13][14][15] - Moving from inferred buyer intent (keyword searches, click data) to explicitly captured intent through conversation data is crucial [16] - Merchants are exploring how to convert fuzzy intent into specific product SKUs, noting higher conversion rates, dollar values, and lifetime values from AI channels [17][18] - Ensuring product availability across numerous stores requires moving beyond existing product feed infrastructure and web scraping towards a unified API for product data [20][21][22] - Representing buyer and seller preferences needs to evolve from siloed data to rich context across all aspects of their lives, with market design challenges addressed by third-party institutions [23][24][26] The Future of Retail and Brand Strategy - Fortune 500 companies are adapting to technological shifts, with examples like Samsung evolving from a fish merchant to a technology leader [29][30] - Brands are creating APIs and MCP servers for chat clients, abstracting complex product systems into consistent APIs [31][32] - Companies are connecting product data with brand and design systems to experiment with generative interfaces and conversational commerce [33][34] - Enabling payment flows for bot traffic is essential, as AI chat users demonstrate higher intent and conversion rates [35][36] - The industry believes stores will evolve back to their original form: a conversation, with brands owning surfaces in various applications [36][40]

Core Insights - PayPal has introduced "Storefront Ads," a new feature that integrates merchant storefronts directly into online advertisements, allowing consumers to make purchases without leaving the content they are viewing [2][3]. Group 1: Storefront Ads Overview - "Storefront Ads" utilizes PayPal's transaction graph and payment infrastructure to convert recommended products into immediate purchasing opportunities within the ad itself [2]. - This feature aims to enhance e-commerce reach for merchants by allowing them to engage consumers across various digital platforms, including desktop and mobile [3]. - The integration of checkout within the ad creates a seamless shopping experience, enabling shoppers to return to their previous content immediately after making a purchase [3]. Group 2: Market Context and Challenges - The rise of agentic commerce is leading to a decline in direct traffic to merchant websites, posing challenges for retailers [3][4]. - Mark Grether, general manager for PayPal Ads, emphasized that shopping is evolving into a more passive experience for consumers, who now expect products to come to them [4]. - PayPal's Storefront Ads provide a solution for merchants to reach new customers and re-engage existing ones by embedding dynamic storefronts within the open web [4]. Group 3: AI and E-commerce Evolution - The impact of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) on e-commerce is significant, with platforms like TikTok Shop demonstrating the effectiveness of contextually embedded commerce [5]. - AI is transforming the shopping experience by enabling product discovery across various platforms, including emails and voice assistants [6]. - PayPal is focusing on AI and data-driven personalization to maintain its competitive edge in the evolving digital payments landscape [6][7]. Group 4: Strategic Partnerships - PayPal is enhancing its capabilities through partnerships, such as its collaboration with AI-powered search engine Perplexity, positioning itself as the embedded payment option for new shopping features [7]. - The company aims to leverage its consumer data to become a key enabler of AI-driven commerce [8].