The Dawn of Agentic Commerce and Autonomous Retail AI

Jan. 27, 2026 /Mpelembe Media/ — The emergence of agentic commerce is a transformative phase in retail where autonomous AI agents move beyond basic interactions to execute complex, multi-step tasks. Google Cloud is spearheading this shift by introducing Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, a platform that integrates shopping and service into a unified, intelligent system. Major global brands like The Home Depot, Papa Johns, and Gap Inc. are already adopting these tools to streamline internal operations and provide personalized digital concierges for their customers. By utilizing advanced reasoning and multimodal capabilities, these AI agents can autonomously manage the entire buyer journey, from initial product discovery to post-purchase support. Ultimately, this technology aims to bridge the gap between physical and digital storefronts, creating a seamless, proactive shopping environment that anticipates consumer needs.

Agentic AI is driving the most significant transformation in the history of retail by shifting the industry from passive digital tools to autonomous AI agents capable of executing complex, multi-step actions. This evolution, known as agentic commerce, moves beyond simple search queries to create a shopping environment where technology independently plans, reasons, and acts on behalf of the consumer under their supervision.

The traditional shopping experience is being reimagined through the following key transformations:

From “Passive Browsing” to “Active Doing”

Traditional retail often involves shoppers browsing through digital catalogs and manually managing their carts. Agentic AI transforms this by acting as a proactive digital concierge.

Autonomous Actions: New Shopping agents use multimodal capabilities to process text, voice, and images, allowing them to autonomously build carts and execute consented actions.

Lifecycle Management: These agents manage the entire customer lifecycle, from the initial discovery of a product to autonomous post-purchase resolution, effectively bringing shopping and customer service together into a single platform.

Personalized and Specialized Consultations

Retailers are using agentic AI to recreate high-touch, in-store experiences in a digital format.

Natural Language Discovery: For example, the AI Scent Advisor from Jo Malone London allows customers to describe scents in their own natural language. The agent then maps these preferences to complex product data to provide bespoke, expert-informed recommendations.

Natural Language Ordering: Restaurants like Papa Johns are implementing natural language ordering across mobile apps, kiosks, and even in-car systems, featuring intelligent upselling and real-time menu synchronization.

Interconnected “Online-to-Offline” Experiences

Agentic AI is bridging the gap between physical stores and digital platforms to create a seamless, interconnected retail environment.

In-Store Navigation: The Home Depot utilizes a “Magic Apron” agent that offers conversational project planning and precise aisle-level navigation localized to specific stores.

Intelligent Shelves: Honeywell’s Smart Shopping Platform transforms physical stores into intelligent environments, providing real-time insights into inventory accuracy and shelf compliance. This allows shoppers to enjoy the same ease of discovery in a physical store that they expect from a mobile app.

Enhanced Support and Employee Enablement

The transformation extends to how retailers support their customers and empower their staff.

24/7 Active Problem Solving: Businesses are now able to scale active problem solving around the clock while providing human associates with AI-driven guidance and real-time quality assurance.

Creative Content Generation: Global retailers like Authentic Brands Group use specialized agents to rapidly generate brand-aligned content. In early testing, Reebok saw up to a 60% higher return on ad spend (ROAS) by using AI-enhanced creative compared to traditional imagery.

By integrating these agents, retailers aim to turn fragmented engagements into a single, effortless experience that anticipates customer needs before they even begin a project or purchase.

AI agents manage shopping and customer service simultaneously by integrating these historically separate functions into a single, intelligent agentic platform designed to handle the entire customer lifecycle,. This shift, powered by platforms like Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience (CX), allows retailers to move away from fragmented engagements toward a unified, effortless experience,.

Here is how these agents manage both functions concurrently:

Unified Lifecycle Management

Instead of using different tools for browsing and support, agentic AI manages every stage of the consumer journey in one place,.

Discovery to Resolution: The same agent can assist with initial product discovery (shopping) and then handle autonomous post-purchase resolution (customer service) if an issue arises later,.

Proactive Concierge: Agents act as a “proactive digital concierge,” using multimodal capabilities to process text, voice, and images to autonomously build carts while answering questions in real-time,.

Autonomous Planning and Reasoning

Unlike traditional chatbots that simply answer questions, these agents are capable of complex reasoning,.

Independent Action: They can independently plan, reason, and act on a customer’s behalf under their supervision,.

Project and Support Integration: For instance, The Home Depot’s “Magic Apron” agent manages shopping by offering conversational project planning and materials list generation, while simultaneously providing service through precise, aisle-level store navigation and product knowledge,.

Scaling 24/7 Active Problem Solving

Retailers use specialized studios, such as the Customer Experience Agent Studio, to maintain service levels without sacrificing the shopping experience,.

Continuous Support: These tools enable businesses to scale 24/7 active problem solving, ensuring that service is always available even as the agent assists other users with purchasing decisions,.

Human-Agent Collaboration: While the AI handles autonomous tasks, it also provides human representatives with AI-driven guidance and real-time quality assurance, ensuring that complex service needs are met during the shopping process,.

Natural Language and Real-Time Synchronization

By using natural language processing, agents make the transition between ordering and support feel seamless,.

Intelligent Ordering: In food retail, agents like those used by Papa Johns manage the shopping experience via natural language ordering and intelligent upselling, while keeping menus synchronized in real-time across mobile, kiosks, and in-car systems to prevent service friction,.

Consultative Selling: Agents like the AI Scent Advisor from Jo Malone London act as expert consultants, mapping natural language descriptions to complex data to move a shopper from “curiosity to a confident purchase,” effectively performing the role of a high-end service associate and a sales tool at once,.

Agentic AI helps store associates in the field by providing them with specialized tools and real-time data that streamline their workflows and enhance their ability to serve customers. According to the sources, the transformation of retail through agentic commerce focuses heavily on employee enablement and operational efficiency.

Store associates are supported through the following specific mechanisms:

Streamlining Complex Workflows

Retailers are equipping their workforce with advanced AI tools to handle difficult tasks more efficiently. For example, The Home Depot has equipped thousands of its associates with Gemini Enterprise tools specifically designed to streamline complex workflows. By automating or simplifying these processes, the technology aims to give associates back their most valuable resource: time.

Real-Time Guidance and Quality Assurance

Agentic platforms provide a layer of intelligent support for human staff during customer interactions.

AI-Driven Guidance: Human representatives receive AI-driven guidance to help them navigate customer needs more effectively.

Quality Assurance: These systems offer real-time quality assurance, ensuring that the service provided by associates meets brand standards and customer expectations.

Enhanced Productivity and Inventory Insights

New platforms are bridging the data gap between the physical store shelf and the back office to help associates manage the store environment.

Inventory Accuracy: Honeywell’s Smart Shopping Platform provides associates with real-time insights into inventory accuracy and shelf compliance.

Associate Productivity: By transforming the physical store into an “intelligent environment,” these tools allow retailers to monitor and improve associate productivity through better data visibility.

Specialized Project Support

In specific retail environments, agents take over informational tasks that would otherwise fall solely on associates. At The Home Depot, the Magic Apron agent provides localized product knowledge and precise aisle-level navigation. This allows the agent to handle basic directional and informational queries, while also offering AI-powered materials list generation for Pro contractors, which supports associates in managing high-value professional clients.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

In broader retail organizations like Authentic Brands Group, agents support employees across various functions—including marketing, creative, and finance—to supercharge collaboration. This widespread adoption allows field and corporate associates to rapidly generate brand-aligned content and business development materials, ensuring the entire organization moves at the pace of shifting consumer trends.

Real-world impact and results: Global retailers are already seeing measurable business value from these implementations. Authentic Brands Group utilizes over 15 specialized agents to supercharge brand-aligned content creation; in early testing, Reebok achieved a 60% higher return on ad spend (ROAS) using AI-enhanced creative compared to traditional imagery. Ultimately, agentic commerce aims to provide retailers with their most valuable resource—time—while transforming fragmented engagements into a unified, effortless customer experience.

Source: Google Cloud