Big promises, fast change… and a lot to figure out.
In this special episode, hosts Nick Morgan and Paul Blackburn revisit some of the most compelling conversations from Commerce Media Matters — this time through one unavoidable lens: AI.
From agentic commerce and shifting customer journeys, to control, power, and the battle between publishers and Big Tech, to the growing importance of trust in an AI-saturated world — this episode cuts through the noise to unpack what’s worth paying attention to, what’s being overhyped, and what’s already playing out.
Because while AI might be the headline… the reality is far more nuanced.
Take a listen back to some of our past guests sharing their perspectives on AI — where they align, where they push back, and where the debate gets interesting.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
Featuring highlights from conversations with:
Roger Dunn (Principal Consultant at Retail Media Consultancy): On agentic commerce, the evolving shopping journey, and why AI won’t replace humans overnight, but will dramatically shorten the path to purchase.
Ricky Sutton (Founder of Future Media): On control, power, and leverage in an AI-dominated ecosystem and how brands and publishers can push back against Big Tech.
Andreas Reiffen (Founder and CEO of Pentaleap): On AI agents as a new channel, not a total disruption, and what happens when retailers risk losing direct access to their customers.
Bill Fisher (Senior Analyst at EMARKETER): On trust, quality, and why in a world flooded with AI-generated content, credibility becomes the ultimate differentiator.
Soundbites to listen out for:
From Natural Language to Autonomous Agents (Roger Dunn)
“Well, I guess the first instance of AI was always the LMS. It's that natural language interface. That was the first instance where we're asking questions, we're getting answers. But agentic is obviously where it's going to go, where the AI then acts autonomously and can carry out tasks – and shopping being potentially one of those tasks.”
The Rise of ACO: Agentic Commerce Optimisation (Roger Dunn)
“I think another one, even more specifically is agentic commerce optimisation (ACO), which would be about being able to surface that instant checkout feature in things like ChatGPT, coming up in the product cards.”
Publishers vs AI: A Tough Trade-Off (Ricky Sutton)
“I think the number of quotas is about 55-56% of all global publishers are now blocking these bots. But the AI companies, Google and others are refusing to change the bot that they have that searches for content. So if you want to block it for AI, then you can't be on search.”
Is the Dotcom Era Ending? (Ricky Sutton)
“I think the dotcom era is sunsetting. We're starting to see the end of this era. it's getting a bit long in the tooth. There's only so much you can do with a website. And frankly, I don't really think the AI companies or the tech companies are really that focussed on dotcom anymore.”
If AI agents control discovery, what happens to retailers? (Andreas Reiffen)
“What is a retailer that no longer owns the access to customers? If people no longer hit websites but buy from agents, retailers become fulfillment companies in the end. And that's clearly nothing they will ever want.”
Why retailers will fight to keep customer traffic (Andreas Reiffen)
“I don't believe that retail will suddenly go away. Retailers don't want third-party AI agents, so they will try to pull traffic to their site. Users sometimes also like the usability, look and feel of the websites they are visiting, reason why they also don't all buy through marketplaces that are around.”
The reality of AI hype (Bill Fisher)
“There are those that think AI is going to fix everything… those that think it’s the devil incarnate… and then there’s this big middle where most of the sensible people sit.”
Trust & quality in the age of AI (Bill Fisher)
“Trust and quality… are going to gain real strong currency this year and next year and for years to come. It certainly increases efficiency… but it doesn’t inherently improve brand equity or quality… and it doesn’t breed consumer trust necessarily.”
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