Agentic Commerce, AI Checkout, and the Future of Retail | Matt Nichols, Commerce Ventures

In this episode of Retailgenic, host Scot Wingo sits down with Matt Nichols, General Partner at Commerce Ventures, to unpack the future of agentic commerce, the evolving role of AI shopping agents, and the new infrastructure needed to support them.

Matt shares:

- Why enriched product catalogs will power LLM-driven shopping
- How AI-native checkout layers could disrupt traditional eCommerce
- What retailers and marketplaces must decide about exposing data to AI platforms
- Insights into Commerce Ventures’ investment thesis and portfolio companies like Kevel, Portless, and Optiversal

From personalized retail media to tokenized payments and stablecoins, this wide-ranging conversation explores the critical infrastructure needed for a future where AI, not humans, drive most online shopping.

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⏱ Notable Timestamps:

00:01:56 – Guest intro: Matt Nichols, General Partner at Commerce Ventures
00:04:50 – From VC to operator: Lessons from running a jewelry eCommerce brand
00:06:00 – How SEO and dynamic product creation powered growth
00:10:38 – How Commerce Ventures partners with strategic LPs
00:14:00 – Unique investment model: small first check, large follow-on
00:19:15 – Thematic investment areas: low-inventory retail, agentic payments, and AI-powered email
00:25:56 – Agentic product catalogs: new expectations for PDP data
00:28:00 – Why we need a Shopify for AI-driven commerce
00:30:00 – Mastercard’s agentic wallet concept explained
00:34:00 – How retailers can create compelling AI on-site experiences
00:39:00 – Pricing wars: Will agentic shopping force new price structures?
00:44:00 – Why eCommerce growth has plateaued (and what might reignite it)
00:49:00 – Ads in AI overviews: The next monetization challenge for Google

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