How Agentic AI in retail is disrupting commerce

The shopping world loves its three-letter acronyms—B2B (business-to-business), B2C (business-to-consumer), D2C (direct-to-consumer). A new one is joining this lineup: A2C or agent-to-consumer.

Now, imagine a dimension where shopping isn’t just a chore, but an experience—fun, efficient, convenient, and effortless. A space where buying something feels like shopping with a friend, delegating it to a personal assistant, or trusting a family member because they know what’s needed or desired.

Welcome to the era of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) in retail, where A2C is disrupting commerce. From personalized recommendations to seamless customer service, AI agents are redefining the way consumers shop, making every interaction smarter and more intuitive.

These agents can act as personal strategists, playing the role of guides, shopping assistants, and even decision-makers. Unlike traditional AI, which follows predefined commands, agentic AI harnesses the smarts of AI and intuitively gives them a purpose. For retailers, the technology promises to have a transformative impact on customer engagement and operational efficiency.

Building the AI Agent Case

While agentic AI can transform shopping, its power can drive a retailer’s operational excellence. AI agents can analyse vast datasets, extract meaningful insights, and autonomously optimize marketing strategies based on audience engagement and revenue trends.

Beyond data intelligence, agentic AI is reshaping sales automation by managing customer inquiries and scheduling meetings with potential buyers. As these AI systems scale, they will become increasingly specialized and self-sufficient, streamlining operations with minimal human oversight. Most significantly, agentic AI is set to transform customer service, providing real-time assistance to shoppers and guiding them to the right products across websites and digital platforms.

The integration of agentic AI will augment humans. Customer service teams will shift towards more strategic and personalized interactions, leveraging human expertise for complex, discretion-based decisions. The outcome? The traditional customer service function will evolve into an active customer experience hub, operated by hybrid teams of human and AI agents.

From Disruption to Opportunity

AI agents can disrupt the B2C value chain, but a deeper analysis reveals a significant opportunity. The customer journey evolution demonstrates how power has gradually shifted towards retailers over the years—starting with receipt-level data, then expanding through e-commerce that provided retailers insights into consumer behaviour and preferences.

In future, it’s clear that generative AI agents could fundamentally transform retail just as e-commerce did before. Unlike traditional models influenced by brand-driven data, AI agents will surface the most relevant, unbiased information based on key factors such as price, availability, reliability, service quality, and partnerships, empowering consumers to make more objective purchasing decisions.

A human-AI Agent Harmony

Retailers must strike a careful balance between human and AI-driven virtual agents to meet customer expectations. Consumer preferences vary based on situations—while human agents are valued for their empathy and creative problem-solving, virtual agents are preferred for speed and convenience.

Take the US-based fast-food chain Wendy’s, for example. The company has implemented a Gen AI-powered drive-through service that combines the strengths of human crew and chatbots. These chatbots handle customer orders, including multilingual requests, reducing average wait times by 22 seconds and freeing up human staff to manage exceptions. Deployed across 100 locations in 17 US states currently, the system has improved order accuracy, service speed, and customer satisfaction.

The future of retail will be redefined by AI agents. However, like any transformative technology, agentic AI must be implemented with human oversight. Retailers must prioritize robust data governance and align AI agent goals with business objectives to maximize impact and drive sustainable growth. On the consumer front, agentic AI will shift decision-making dynamics—moving from decisions made by customers to those made on their behalf. Despite these advancements, the value of human presence in retail will remain irreplaceable. As agentic AI scales, human agents will continue to play a critical role in maintaining transparency, trust, and brand loyalty.

(Views are personal; the author is Vice President and Industry Platform Leader for Consumer Products and Retail – India, Capgemini)