Is AI About to Start Shopping For Us?
AI isn’t just a back-office tool anymore. It’s creeping into the front end of shopping, discovery, and decision-making. In this episode, Roger Dunn joins Commerce Media Matters to unpack what happens when agents, answer engines and retail media collide. From generative browsers and “browser wars” to instant checkout, affiliate-style monetisation and TikTok’s role as a commerce front door, Roger cuts through the noise to separate what’s hype from what’s truly changing customer journeys. If you’re trying to work out how AI will reshape commerce in the next 2–3 years (without throwing out everything you already know), this one’s essential listening.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
AI agents, tempered expectations and real behaviour change: Why AI agents won’t replace all human decision-making any time soon and why we need to temper the hype while still recognising how AI will shorten paths to purchase across both e-commerce and in-store journeys.
From blue links to answer engines: How ChatGPT, Atlas, Comet and other AI browsers are changing the search experience; why Google still has enormous power; and how the “browser wars” may reshape who owns the front door to commerce.
The new rules of visibility in AEO, GAEO and ACO: Why traditional SEO isn’t enough in an AI-first world and how Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), Generative AI Engine Optimisation (GAEO) and AI Commerce Optimisation (ACO) will shape how products and brands show up in agents, product cards and instant-checkout flows.
Retail media as “just media” (but with better data): Why offsite retail media is essentially programmatic with superior shopper data, and how retailer product feeds may eventually surface inside AI agents — with some placements potentially remaining paid even in new front-ends.
Monetisation in an AI world. Ads, affiliates and instant checkout: Why Sam Altman can’t avoid monetisation forever, the likely role of affiliate-style models and transaction-led revenue (think Shopify’s payments business), and what that means for retailers and brands looking to trade inside AI ecosystems.
How marketers can stay sane in 2026 and beyond: Practical advice for marketers facing fragmenting channels and expanding remits — including where to over-index experimentation time, where to lean on established playbooks, and why older channels don’t disappear just because new toys arrive.
Soundbites to listen out for:
On holistic planning across teams and breaking down silos (Jason Wescott):
(Retail Media) can’t afford to remain siloed from the rest of the marketing mix. Long gone are the days where you’ve just got a commerce team working on a retail media campaign and they have no idea what the broadcast team is putting out there.
From Natural Language to Autonomous Agents
“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
“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.”
Ads Will Come
“They need to turn a profit at some point, but we're in this classic phase where it's all about growth or about user growth, and it's less about the monetisation and profit at the moment. But that wheel will turn as it always does with any big venture. And I'm sure there'll be a world where advertising comes in.”
The Holy Grail: Reach + Closed-Loop Outcomes
“You want the media to perhaps reach some awareness and reach some frequency goals. But if you can then track it all the way through to a closed loop outcome as well, then that's the best of both worlds. It's sort of the marketing nirvana, where you can absolutely create the reach, create the scale, but also know the outcome.”
New Platforms Don’t Replace the Old Ones
“It does feel like there's always something new, but the old things don't go away. So there's always this expanding opportunity or remit that needs to be covered. So I definitely feel the challenge there. But I guess like with any marketing, you kind of need to focus on where the consumer is and where the eyeballs are and where people are spending their time. And as these new platforms come in and people start gaining consumers' attention, gaining transactions, then it becomes something that you need to focus on.”
We’re Only at the Beginning of AI Commerce
“We're going to have new tools, new ways of discovering products, new ways to compare products, and we haven't even got to the application layer, like all we're looking at now is the really generic tools that have come out, the big Tech players LMS.”
About the guest
Roger Dunn is a retail and commerce media leader with over 20 years’ experience in e-commerce, digital media and shopper transformation. He was the first person in Australia to be Amazon Advertising certified and a founding member of IAB Australia’s Retail Media Council, helping to define standards and frameworks for one of the fastest-growing areas in media.
Across his career, Roger has helped retailers, brands and agencies navigate the shifting sands of retail media, data and digital shelf optimisation, bringing together commerce, technology and storytelling to drive growth. He now authors The AI Commerce Brief, a newsletter dedicated to exploring how AI is reshaping shopping behaviour, customer journeys and the future of commerce.
Connect with the hosts on LinkedIn
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