Industry players have always moved around the commerce field vying for share and dollars, but the traditional rules, positions, and calls are different in today’s competitions. Agentic commerce is changing the playbook at a time when Circana projects that three out of every four purchases in the near future will involve some kind of agent between inspiration and checkout. Circana’s data already shows a 12-point swing in the use of generative AI over a matter of months, from 55% in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 67% by May 2026.

Now and in the future, brands are ramping up their offense in a bid to be found and chosen. Retailers, for their part, are taking a stance on owning the selection system itself. Circana’s pro analysts, Kiara Barrett, global head of thought leadership, and Sally Lyons Wyatt, global chief advisor, recently explored these significant changes in a webinar focusing on “The Agentic AI Shift and Strategies That Win.”

What’s Changed?

Younger players are coming out charging in commerce, as AI agents increasingly sit between shoppers and shelves. These agents filter options, weigh signals, and shape what consumers consider before a human ever sees a product.

With a plethora of agents, competitive moves shift. Brands need to earn a place on agents’ shortlist, while retailers must build and govern systems that create the shortlists. Because agents read different signals than people due, those who aim to capture agent attention in both arenas need to adapt their respective strategies and tactics. Businesses win the algorithm work on a foundation of data and integration. 

The Brand Playbook: Get Found, Get Chosen

For brands, success in agentic commerce means controlling how products are shown, compared, and chosen across retailers and data ecosystems.  Their teams can ask and answer six important questions:

1. Visibility and inclusion: Are we listed properly and tagged everywhere we sell?

2. Sentiment and framing: Do reviews and content reinforce the positioning we intend?

3. Recommendation power: Do we win on price, ratings, and the attributes an agent actually weighs?

4. Conversion influence: Are we easy for retailers and agents to sell? Are we in stock, with a simple lineup and no friction?

5. Accuracy and trust: Is our data consistent everywhere it appears?

6. Data and integration: Are we measuring and optimizing across retailers, not just within one?

   
   

Much of this rests on clean, trusted data. For example, a mis-tagged attribute is not a back-office problem, but a reason why a brand was left out of the consideration set.

The Retailer Playbook: Own the Selection System

Retailers hold a different position. Their goal is to operate the system, not just compete within it. 

Six questions define a retailer’s playbook while they pursue incremental growth:

1. Control the decision: Do we control which products AI agents recommend, rank, and substitute?

2. Monetize the moment: Are we monetizing AI-driven recommendations through sponsored placement and paid decision influence?

3. Leverage your data: Are we using loyalty and behavioral data to train, personalize, and improve those decisions? Loyalty data is the power play.

4. Drive profit per purchase: Are we dynamically optimizing price, assortment, and substitution to maximize profit per decision, not just per basket?

5. Connect the system: Are we enabling seamless interactions between the retailer, brand, and consumer agents through data and APIs?

6. Continuously optimize: Are we learning and adjusting in real time?

   
   

That final question sets retailers apart, because agentic commerce needs continual, collaborative tuning. 

Gaming the Short-Term and Long-Term Future

Consumers are adopting AI faster than most plans assume. As the pace picks up, trust is the gating factor.

That said, consumers will not fully delegate overnight. Adoption moves in a ladder of trust:

• Step 1: The agent helps, the shopper decides. The agent might suggest a recipe. The shopper checks the brands in the basket and the pantry.

• Step 2: The shopper sets rules, the agent acts within them. For example, dog food is re-ordered when it runs low, from same brand, under $40, delivered within two days.

• Step 3: The shopper hands over the outcome. Consider a family of four on a $150–$200 weekly budget who has a dietary lifestyle of no nuts and fewer carbs. The agent builds the meal plan, selects the products, and buys them. The shopper sees the receipt, not the decisions.

Ultimately, as they create and execute on their updated playbook, brands and retailers should keep in mind that what shoppers want from agents today is value and time that means something to them, not automation for its own sake.

Learn more about how AI is changing the plays and the math behind brand growth:

Watch the full webinar

Go deeper on winning plays by viewing another AI, Measured session:

The Math of AI: Winning as a Brand," Thursday, October 22, at 10:00 a.m. ET 

Register now