American sports-fan brand Fanatics is setting a template for capturing enthusiasts across experiences and commerce, forging a loyalty-based ecosystem to keep consumers spending. Elsewhere, sneakerhead-focused start-up Fanfare strengthens loyalty by keeping fans engaged post-drop.

While disintermediation is a rising retailer fear as tech giants launch checkout within AI agents, brands including Walmart and US home improvement retailer Lowe’s are bidding to personalise these new-era transactions.

Shoppers are adopting AI commerce at astonishing speed (see stats below). Brands including Abercrombie & Fitch and Zadig & Voltaire discussed the pivot from search engine optimisation (keyword-based search results) to generative engine optimisation (GEO), where online copy is optimised for generative AI engines. Large language models (LLMs) require greater context and content, which means augmenting product data and revving up brand advocacy among humans.

With human voices wielding powerful influence amid algorithmic fatigue – see Creator-Customised Storefronts in Digital Commerce 26/27 – retailers including teen-focused apparel company Pacsun and outdoors brand Rei (both US) are amplifying influential voices on brand-owned platforms.

Two standout start-ups from the show’s Innovators Showcase focused on the post-purchase opportunity: evolving customer feedback (a tool soliciting in-the-moment opinion) and extending engagement (leveraging receipts for loyalty and cross-selling).    

Spanning supermarket, home improvement and fashion, shrewd brands are building proprietary AI ‘co-shoppers’ capable of time-saving and problem-solving tasks. The goal is to harness AI’s sales-boosting potential (see stat below) while drawing consumers away from third-party AI aides (e.g. ChatGPT).