Retailgentic: Agentic Commerce meets Retail and Brands

Today we have a special FLASH episode - no fancy intros, just the news as it's breaking at NRF.

Consumer behavior doesn’t change overnight, even when the technology is obvious. In this episode of Retailgentic, Scot sits down with Hamish Gunasekara to unpack why agentic commerce is inevitable, why it’s moving slower than the hype suggests, and why product data infrastructure, not checkout, is the real unlock.We cover:Why “fully autonomous shopping” is the wrong definition of agentic commerceWhy consumer habits change slower than technologyWhy global mega-catalogs don’t work (and never really have)How vertical AI shopping experiences can thrive alongside ChatGPTThe hidden trust and governance problem no one is talking aboutWhy product catalogs are the hardest unsolved problem in commerceIf you’re a retailer, brand, agent builder, or investor trying to understand what actually matters in the agentic commerce stack, this episode is foundational.Timestamps:02:39 Meet Hamish & the origin of Catalog04:55 From Afterpay to Cash App Commerce11:30 The Naya experiment & lessons learned14:24 How AI is changing discovery16:08 Why catalog data is broken18:30 Fundraising & early traction20:48 Who Catalog is built for23:20 Why global catalogs don’t work28:30 The agentic commerce stack33:40 Defining agentic commerce (correctly)37:30 Why vertical agents will win43:45 Trust, governance, and adoption44:51 Where to learn more👉 Connect with Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamish-gunasekara/👉 Learn more about Catalog: https://getcatalog.ai/🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai 📺 Watch episodes on YouTube & Subscribe for updates 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc: https://retailgentic.transistor.fm

Matt Nichols, General Partner at Commerce Ventures, returns to discuss the rapid evolution of agentic commerce and its impact on retail and fintech. He highlights the swift realization of predictions made just six months ago, stressing the ongoing infrastructure challenges that hinder frictionless transactions. The conversation tackles the disparity between standards like ACP and practical implementation, the shift from static to AI-centric feeds, and predictions for 2026 involving traffic spikes and wallet battles. Prepare for insightful takes on what brands must prioritize today!

In this episode of Retailgentic, Scot sits down with Luca to unpack a research paper that blends academic rigor with real-world implications:“LLMs Reproduce Human Purchase Intent via Semantic Similarity licitation of Likert Ratings.”The paper, co-authored with Colgate-Palmolive researchers, explores whether AI can accurately simulate human reactions to product concepts, enough to replace or accelerate traditional consumer panels, which are slow, expensive, and hard to scale.This one goes deep, but in ways that any retail or AI leader should care about. Scot and Luca discuss:Colgate’s Challenge: How to test product concepts faster and at scale.Synthetic Consumers: AI models that react to products like human panels.Accuracy Breakthrough: Reaching ~73–74% agreement with real consumers.Fixing LLM Failure Modes: Why naive prompts don’t work, and what does.Bayesian Reasoning: Adding uncertainty so AI stops being confidently wrong.Smarter A/B Testing: Using AI to pre-screen ideas before running live experiments.Digital Clones: Future consumers earning money by sharing preference data safely.Simulated Populations: Matching real audiences for testing and predictions.AI isn’t just helping brands write copy or generate images, it’s beginning to think like their customers. If synthetic consumers continue to evolve at this pace, product development, A/B testing, and personalization may look completely different in just a few years.Timestamps: 03:00 — Luca’s background: Rocket Internet, HelloFresh, Lazada, Stitch Fix08:00 — How PyMC Labs was founded & why Bayesian modeling matters16:00 — Bayesian thinking explained in simple terms19:00 — High-stakes decisions & why probabilistic reasoning matters24:00 — Colgate’s challenge: testing product concepts at scale26:00 — How synthetic consumer panels work30:00 — Accuracy results: humans vs. AI (~73–74%)32:00 — Why naive LLM prompting fails (“mode collapse”)35:00 — How reasoning → scoring solves accuracy issues38:00 — Example: synthetic consumers evaluating PyMC’s own website redesign44:00 — How AI can pre-screen ideas for smarter A/B testing48:00 — Where AI cannot replace causal testing49:00 — Digital clones & monetizable consumer preferences52:00 — Future benchmarks, new LLMs & evaluation methods👉 Connect with Luca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lfiaschi/👉 Learn more about PyMC Labs: https://www.pymc-labs.com👉 Check out the paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.08338🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai 📺 Watch episodes on YouTube & Subscribe for updates 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc: https://retailgentic.transistor.fm#Retailgentic #AgenticCommerce #SyntheticConsumers #AIShopping #ProductTesting #CPGInnovation #GenerativeAI #BayesianModeling #Ecommerce #FutureOfRetail #DataScience #LLMs #AIResearch

In this episode of Retailgentic, host Scot sits down with Mike Edmonds, PayPal’s VP of Agentic Commerce & Commercial Growth, to unpack the massive pivot PayPal has made into the Agentic Commerce era, and what it means for retailers, brands, platforms, and developers.Mike goes deep on:PayPal’s Agentic Bet: Why PayPal is going all-in on Agentic CommerceMerchant Anxiety, Explained: The real reason so many merchants are anxious about LLMsInstant Checkout 2.0: Where PayPal sees Instant Checkout heading nextWallets as Identity: Why wallet identity will matter more than ever2030 Predictions: Mike’s bold predictions for shopping agents in 2030Two-Track Future: A world split between autonomous commerce and luxury human-led experiencesProtocol Chaos Simplified: How PayPal plans to tame and unify an explosion of competing protocolsMerchant of Record Relief: The surprising emotional fear merchants have about disintermediationAs AI agents reshape discovery, checkout, and trust, PayPal is building the rails for the future of digital commerce.Key Timestamps:02:15 — Mike introduces his background.04:45 — How Mike’s career path led directly into PayPal’s Agentic Commerce leadership role.06:20 — What “VP of Agentic Commerce & Commercial Growth” really means at PayPal.07:48 — The biggest lessons Mike learned leading AI strategy at Microsoft.10:35 — What merchants are actually thinking about Agentic Commerce (the real pulse).12:18 — Mike explains the off-surface vs on-surface Agentic Commerce model.13:10 — Why merchants feel overwhelmed by LLMs, APIs, and protocol sprawl.14:47 — PayPal’s role as the one-to-many connector across LLMs and platforms.16:06 — What technical pieces merchants need in place to integrate Agentic checkout.17:45 — How on-surface conversational agents can finally boost conversion rates.19:30 — Why conversational checkout is the missing piece in Agentic shopping.20:55 — What the Perplexity partnership enables for checkout, payments, and reach.23:30 — How PayPal is powering ChatGPT Instant Checkout and expanding ACP.26:12 — Why Agentic protocols are diverging, and how PayPal navigates the chaos.28:30 — The emotional fear merchants have of LLMs.30:05 — Mike’s 2030 prediction31:40 — Why some categories will automate, while luxury experiences stay human.33:10 — Multimodal will reshape shopping through voice, gestures, and identity.35:00 — The top concerns merchants raise in every PayPal Agentic conversation.37:05 — Where to find Mike and what PayPal has coming next.Announcements & press releases related to the conversations:Perplexity: https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-05-14-Perplexity-Selects-PayPal-to-Power-Agentic-CommerceGoogle (commerce agent for merchants: https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/financial-services/introducing-an-agentic-commerce-solution-for-merchants-from-paypal-and-google-cloudOpenAI: https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-10-28-OpenAI-and-PayPal-Team-Up-to-Power-Instant-Checkout-and-Agentic-Commerce-in-ChatGPTAP2: https://developer.paypal.com/community/blog/PayPal-Agent-Payments-Protocol/ and https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocolPayPal’s Agentic Commerce Services: https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-10-28-PayPal-Launches-Agentic-Commerce-Services-to-Power-AI-Driven-Shopping👉 Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeledmonds/👉 Learn more about PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/us/home🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai 📺 Watch episodes on YouTube & Subscribe for updates: https://www.youtube.com/@Retailgentic

In this episode of the Retailgentic Podcast, Scot talks with Stu Solomon, CEO of HUMAN Security, the company analyzing 20+ trillion digital interactions every week to detect bots, fraud, and now agentic AI behavior. Stu breaks down:Why bots now exceed human trafficThe 1300% growth in agentic activityHow HUMAN identifies good vs. bad botsThe rise of agentic logins, navigation, and even checkoutsWhy spoofing of ChatGPT and Perplexity traffic is explodingWhat retailers need to know about letting AI agents crawl their sitesThe coming world of agent-to-agent commerceIf you’re preparing for the future of retail, ad tech, AI commerce, or online security, this is essential listening.Timestamps02:20 — What HUMAN actually measures (bot vs human vs agentic)03:40 — Stu’s background (military → Amazon → banking → VC → CEO)06:40 — The logistics + retail connection09:00 — How HUMAN works: media + enterprise security11:00 — The digital journey from ad → login → checkout12:11 — HUMAN at 20 trillion interactions/week16:55 — Why HUMAN started publishing agentic data17:50 — 1300% growth in agentic activity18:30 — Machine traffic surpasses human traffic19:40 — The diversification of generative AI traffic20:30 — Agentic login + website navigation behavior24:00 — How HUMAN distinguishes bot vs agent vs human33:00 — The bad side: spoofed ChatGPT & Perplexity traffic38:30 — Retailers blocking bots without realizing it47:00 — The inevitability of agentic adoption48:40 — The future: agent-to-agent transactions49:30 — The end of 2FA hell?👉 Connect with Stu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stu-solomon-733a217/👉 Learn more about HUMAN: https://www.humansecurity.com/🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai 📺 Watch episodes on YouTube & Subscribe for updates: https://www.youtube.com/@Retailgentic

Nitin Mangtani, SVP & GM of Salesforce Commerce Cloud and former founder of PredictSpring, shares his remarkable journey through commerce technology. He discusses his early days at Google, launching innovative search products that transformed online shopping. Nitin dives into the evolution of PredictSpring, pivoting from mobile commerce to an enterprise POS solution, and the lessons learned from competition with giants like Shopify. Lastly, he explores the future of AI in retail, highlighting the potential of agentic commerce and how automation will reshape shopping experiences.

In this episode of Retailgentic, host Scot Wingo sits down with Johnathan McGowan, co-founder & CEO of PayOS, to discuss how AI agents will handle payments safely and compliantly.From Visa and Mastercard partnerships to the first live Agentic token transaction, Johnathan explains how “day-one-ready” infrastructure will power the future of Agentic Commerce.Timestamps:01:56 — Meet Johnathan McGowan, co-founder of PayOS04:00 — From Visa to PayOS: the founding story06:40 — What Agentic Payments really mean08:10 — Partnering with Visa & Mastercard10:25 — “Day-one-ready” vs new payment rails12:50 — What PayOS actually does15:30 — Agent builders and early use cases18:40 — Understanding “intent” in payments21:50 — Future-proofing across protocols (AP2, ACP, etc.)24:55 — How the first live Agentic transaction worked29:50 — Why PCI compliance & trust matter36:00 — The global scale of Agentic CommerceAs AI agents start making real-world transactions, companies like PayOS are making sure those payments are not just possible, but trusted, secure, and global from day one.👉 Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnathanm/👉 Learn more about the PayOS: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payos/🧠 Want to stay ahead in AI commerce? Subscribe and follow along:📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai 📺 Watch episodes on YouTube & Subscribe for updates: https://www.youtube.com/@Retailgentic

Ronnie Chatterji, Chief Economist at OpenAI and former Duke University professor, shares insights from his study on ChatGPT usage. He discusses the evolution of consumer behavior from asking to doing, revealing surprising data insights. AI's role in transforming shopping, particularly through voice and vision, is highlighted as a game-changer. Chatterji also emphasizes the importance of writing support and notes that purchasable products currently represent just 2.1% of interactions. The future of agentic commerce promises exciting developments.

Caila Schwartz, Director of Strategy and Consumer Insights at Salesforce, dives into thrilling trends transforming holiday shopping. She reveals how AI will influence 21% of global holiday spending and why 'discovery' is the year's key theme, replacing traditional discounts. Baby Boomers are now using AI tools like ChatGPT for their shopping, while Gen Z is reigniting the mall experience. Caila also discusses the quirky return of 'Discount Chicken' and the shifting dynamics of consumer loyalty in an evolving retail landscape.