Key Takeaways
- At Shoptalk 2026, "agentic anxiety" spread across the retail media industry as AI agents threaten to fundamentally disrupt advertising revenue models
- Sephora-OpenAI and Gap-Google partnerships signal that agentic commerce has entered the implementation phase
- Retailers are building AI agents on their own properties as a counter-strategy, redefining where advertising surfaces exist
The "Agentic Anxiety" That Erupted at Shoptalk 2026
Shoptalk Spring 2026 was drowning in agentic commerce talk. Commerce media columnist Kiri Masters found the real story in the hallway conversations.
www.thedrum.comShoptalk Spring 2026, held March 24-26 in Las Vegas, was dominated by a single theme: agentic commerce. As the prospect of AI agents handling everything from product discovery to purchase becomes increasingly real, a deep anxiety spread among retail media stakeholders about whether traditional advertising business models could survive.
The Drum's commerce media columnist Kiri Masters noted that the real story was in the hallway conversations, not the main-stage announcements. e.l.f. Beauty CDO Ekta Chopra predicted that advertising metrics will shift from CPMs (cost per mille) to "cost per agent recommendation," arguing that impression counts become meaningless in an agent-mediated world.
Sephora-OpenAI and Gap-Google Signal a New Paradigm
Two major partnerships headlined the event. Sephora announced a partnership with OpenAI to build a Sephora app inside ChatGPT, integrating its Beauty Insider loyalty program with conversational, personalized product recommendations. Sephora's global chief digital officer Anca Marola said the priority was to remain a "trusted adviser" regardless of channel.
The second was Gap's partnership enabling direct checkout on Google Gemini. By adopting Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), brands under the Gap umbrella, including Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta, will become shoppable on Gemini. Consumers can discover Gap products during Gemini conversations and complete checkout via Google Pay. This marks the first time a major fashion company has implemented direct purchasing on an AI platform.
These partnerships clearly demonstrate that the starting point for product discovery and purchase is shifting to AI platforms.
Retailers Build AI Agents on Their Own Properties
Much of the agentic commerce discussion focuses on the "external threat" of AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity siphoning traffic from retail sites. But a different trend emerged at Shoptalk: retailers are building agent experiences on their own properties.
A prime example is Lowe's AI assistant "Mylow." Anne Hallock, VP Americas at Mirakl Ads, noted that Mylow users convert at twice the rate of non-users. Instead of searching for "caulking gun," customers describe projects like "I want to redo my shower," and Mylow works backwards to surface everything needed. This represents a potential new advertising surface for sponsored products.
Retail media expert Kathryn Mazza pointed out on LinkedIn that as AI shifts product discovery upstream, in-store retail media is being revalued. The physical proximity to products that no algorithm can replicate is the store's enduring advantage.
Reshuffling Ad Surfaces and the Future of Retail Media
Retail media's advertising surfaces are being reorganized in three directions: on-site, AI agents become the new ad surface; off-site, AI platforms mediate product discovery; and in-store, the physical environment gains importance as the last high-impact touchpoint.
There are skeptics, however. Drew Cashmore, CSO at retail media ad-tech company Vantage, said he's "a little bit bored of the premise" of AI disrupting retail media. The disruption to retail itself, through new fulfillment models and product discovery methods, carries far greater impact.
Debra Aho Williamson of Sonata Insights analyzed that advertising within AI platforms is still in its early stages. Early results from ads in ChatGPT have been modest. She described them as "basically search ads being plugged into a very new environment that is nothing like search." Just as early social media advertising went through experimentation before finding effective formats, AI-native ad formats will emerge through trial and error.
What E-Commerce Businesses Should Prepare for Now
What Shoptalk 2026 revealed is that the "anxiety" from six months ago has transformed into "action." As e-commerce consultant Rick Watson described it, the industry is in the midst of an "agentic fog" hype cycle. But first movers like Sephora, Gap, and Lowe's are already implementing concrete solutions.
The practical implications for e-commerce businesses are clear: consider deploying AI agents on your own site; evaluate product data integration with AI platforms through OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol and Google's UCP; and begin redesigning advertising metrics from "impressions" to "agent-driven conversions."
Summary
Shoptalk 2026 demonstrated that the "agentic anxiety" from six months ago has transformed into concrete action. The Sephora-OpenAI and Gap-Google partnerships confirm that AI platforms are becoming new starting points for product discovery, while Lowe's Mylow has proven the monetization model for on-site AI agents.
Going forward, the key areas to watch are how advertising formats within AI platforms evolve, when new metrics replacing CPMs become standardized, and whether proprietary AI agents or external AI platforms will seize control of product discovery — these factors will define the next chapter of retail media.
