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McFadyen Digital · News & Insights

AI in Commerce News

Curated coverage of artificial intelligence across retail, B2B distribution, e-commerce platforms, funding, and policy — organized by topic and continuously updated.

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AI-generated. Summaries are AI-generated from cited sources. Click through for the original report.

AI-powered search and recommendations drive conversion gainsFEATUREDAI-generated
Retail / DTC › Office Supplies, Stationery, and Gift Retailers › Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir RetailersLLMSearchGoogle Cloud

Michaels' Ask Mike AI assistant doubles online conversion rates versus search

Michaels launched Ask Mike, a Google Gemini-powered AI shopping assistant that has generated 75,000 conversations since its May debut, with shoppers converting at more than double the rate of traditional search users. For commerce teams, the tool demonstrates how conversational AI can drive higher engagement and larger basket sizes by guiding customers from inspiration to multi-item purchases in a single session.

Jul 24, 2026Read full article →
AI-Driven Cost Optimization and Supply Chain Efficiency
FEATURED
AI-generated
Retail / DTC › Automotive Parts, Accessories, and Tire Retailers › Automotive Parts and Accessories RetailersAnalyticsLoyaltyAdvance Auto Parts

Advance Auto Parts deploys AI pricing and loyalty to boost ecommerce sales

Advance Auto Parts launched its Advance Rewards loyalty program in Q1 and deployed AI-powered pricing and assortment tools developed with Palantir to drive customer engagement and repeat purchases. For commerce teams, the combination shows how loyalty programs paired with real-time pricing intelligence and inventory optimization can directly improve customer retention and competitive positioning in competitive retail categories.

Jul 30, 2026Read full article →
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AI infrastructure and voice commerce reshape retail technologyAI-generated

Wesco data center sales surge 45% as AI infrastructure demand accelerates

Media / Information Technology › Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related
AnalyticsData

Wesco International reported record Q2 earnings with data center sales jumping 45%, driven by customer demand for AI infrastructure, and the distributor is now investing in AI for its own inventory and supply-chain operations. For commerce practitioners, this signals a structural shift: B2B suppliers are being pulled earlier into the sales cycle by power-intensive projects, creating cross-sell opportunities and requiring new capabilities in power solutions and infrastructure consulting.

Aug 4, 2026Read full article →
AI infrastructure and voice commerce reshape retail technologyAI-generated

Amazon Alexa for Shopping doubles active users in Q2 2026

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
Ecommerce

Amazon's Alexa for Shopping agentic AI assistant nearly doubled active users in Q2 2026, with interactions up five times year-over-year and over 350 million shoppers using the tool in the past 12 months. Commerce teams should note that U.S. customers using Alexa for Shopping spend 40% more per order on average, signaling strong ROI potential for voice-driven shopping integrations.

Aug 4, 2026Read full article →
AI-Driven Cost Optimization and Supply Chain EfficiencyAI-generated

Nissin Foods deploys Blue Yonder AI for demand and supply planning

Manufacturing › Other Food Manufacturing › All Other Miscellaneous Food Manufacturing
AnalyticsOMS

Nissin Foods is implementing an AI-powered demand and supply planning tool from Blue Yonder to improve inventory management, forecasting accuracy, and fill rates while reducing operational costs. For commerce practitioners, this signals how food manufacturers are shifting from capital-intensive infrastructure to predictive AI systems that better anticipate demand and strengthen customer partnerships.

Jul 30, 2026Read full article →
Retail Media and AI Shape Future Growth StrategiesAI-generated

Groceryshop 2026 Unites AI, GLP-1, and Retail Media as Interconnected Forces

Retail / DTC › Specialty Food Retailers › Fish and Seafood Retailers
AnalyticsCDP+1

Groceryshop 2026 will convene over 150 speakers from major retailers and brands to address how AI-powered shopping, GLP-1 adoption, and retail media are reshaping assortment, pricing, and customer journeys simultaneously. For commerce practitioners, the convergence means strategic decisions in one area now ripple across product discovery, loyalty, and revenue models—requiring integrated rather than siloed planning.

Jul 30, 2026Read full article →
Agentic AI reshapes consumer shopping experienceAI-generated

Agentic AI reshapes e-commerce through loyalty and promotions standardization

Media / Information Technology › Software Publishers
EcommerceLLM+1

Google, OpenAI and others are embedding AI agents into shopping experiences to handle end-to-end consumer journeys, with agentic commerce projected to influence 15–25% of U.S. e-commerce by 2030. Brands must make loyalty programs and promotions agent-readable now or risk losing margin control and competitive positioning as AI agents default to price-based decisions.

Jul 29, 2026Read full article →
Small retailers struggle with AI visibility gapAI-generated

ChatGPT Shopping Surge Locks Out Small Retailers from AI Discovery

Retail / DTC › Other Miscellaneous Retailers › All Other Miscellaneous Retailers
LLMSearch

ChatGPT now fields over 84 million shopping questions per week from U.S. consumers, but AI engines consistently recommend only large brands because small retailers lack the data infrastructure to compete. Without accessible tools to structure their catalogs for AI systems, independent merchants risk permanent invisibility as AI-driven commerce consolidates the market.

Jul 29, 2026Read full article →
Buy now pay later expands into hardware financingAI-generated

Klarna powers Apple's new hardware leasing program in US

Klarna announced it will be the leasing provider for Apple Upgrade, a new hardware leasing program available in the United States for iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch with 12- to 36-month lease terms. This partnership expands Klarna's flexible payment offerings into the hardware leasing space, creating a new commerce channel for device upgrades and recurring revenue streams.

Jul 29, 2026Read full article →
AI transforms supply chain and inventory managementAI-generated

Retailgentic: Product Enrichment Must Enable AI Decision-Making, Not Just Fill Attributes

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
LLMPIM

Retailgentic argues that traditional product data enrichment—filling in missing attributes and basic metadata—fails to support agentic commerce, and vendors must instead layer conversational, buyer, market, and decision-ready context. Commerce teams investing in attribute completion alone risk falling behind competitors who optimize for AI reasoning and continuous context capture across multiple surfaces.

Jul 29, 2026Read full article →
AI transforms supply chain and inventory managementAI-generated

Nissin Foods USA deploys Blue Yonder AI for supply chain planning

Manufacturing › Grain and Oilseed Milling › Breakfast Cereal Manufacturing
OMSWMS

Nissin Foods USA has adopted Blue Yonder's AI-powered demand and supply planning solution in partnership with Highspring, transitioning from legacy tools to data-driven forecasting and inventory management. For commerce practitioners, the deployment demonstrates how AI-driven planning replaces manual processes and sales-driven forecasting, enabling faster market response and improved forecast accuracy across supply chain, finance, and operations teams.

Jul 29, 2026Read full article →
AI regulation and compliance reshape retail advertising landscapeAI-generated

New York law requires AI-model disclosures in product ads

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › All Other General Merchandise Retailers
Ecommerce

New York amended its advertising rules to require clear notices when product ads contain AI-generated images of people, prompting Amazon to ask third-party sellers to label such content. The requirement burdens smaller retailers while favoring large companies with traditional photography budgets, threatening the democratizing potential of generative AI in ecommerce.

Jul 27, 2026Read full article →
Retailers deploy AI for personalized health and wellness servicesAI-generated

Schnucks launches VitalityIP health-tracking AI shopping assistant

Retail / DTC › Grocery and Convenience Retailers › Supermarkets and Other Grocery Retailers (except Convenience Retailers)
CDPLLM

St. Louis grocer Schnucks partnered with Boston-based VitalityIP to launch an AI assistant in its Rewards app and website that offers nutrition guidance, meal ideas, and personalized product recommendations based on health conditions and dietary preferences. The move signals a shift toward agentic shopping where AI agents mediate purchasing decisions based on health goals rather than traditional search or shelf placement, reshaping how brands compete for consumer trust.

Jul 27, 2026Read full article →
General AI in CommerceAI-generated

Best Buy opens Meta AI shop-in-shops to drive experiential retail

Retail / DTC › Electronics and Appliance Retailers

Best Buy is rolling out 30-by-30-foot Meta AI shop-in-shops in select stores, with plans to expand to 50 locations by year-end and up to 200 by next year, after finding that over 50% of customers want to try Ray-Ban Meta glasses in person. The move signals how legacy retailers can redesign store footprints and staff training to position themselves as hubs for emerging AI-powered hardware and drive foot traffic in the digital age.

Jul 27, 2026Read full article →
General AI in CommerceAI-generated

Whatnot acquires Shaped to speed up AI-powered recommendations

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
LLMSearch

Live shopping platform Whatnot acquired machine learning startup Shaped to reduce recommendation latency to minutes, enabling real-time inventory updates as products sell during livestreams. For commerce practitioners, faster recommendations mean better inventory turnover and improved buyer-seller matching in fast-moving live commerce environments.

Jul 24, 2026Read full article →
Agentic AI transforms commerce operations and optimizationAI-generated

ReFiBuy launches ACO Everywhere framework for agentic commerce optimization

Retail / DTC › Health and Personal Care Retailers › Pharmacies and Drug Retailers
LLMPIM

ReFiBuy introduced ACO Everywhere, an 11-step framework that captures product context across answer engines, retailer agents, websites, and social media, then publishes updates in weekly loops to close competitive gaps. Commerce teams can now test the strategy on a handful of SKUs and see measurable results in under 30 days, making agentic optimization visible and actionable unlike traditional SEO or GEO.

Jul 24, 2026Read full article →
Agentic AI transforms commerce operations and optimizationAI-generated

Sazo uses agentic AI for seamless cross-border commerce

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
EcommerceLLM

Sazo, an agentic AI-powered cross-border commerce platform, raised $10.3 million in Series A funding and has expanded from South Korea–Japan routes to the U.S. market, with AI handling customs clearance, duty estimation, and shipment consolidation that traditionally break down in cross-border transactions. For commerce practitioners, Sazo's API-first architecture positions it as a back-end service layer for AI agents, solving the execution problems—customs, duty prediction, fulfillment—that AI models alone cannot handle.

Jul 24, 2026Read full article →
Retailers tackle core AI implementation challenges todayAI-generated

Retailers tackle three critical AI adoption challenges in 2026

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
LLMPayment & Tax

Retailers are grappling with three major AI-related problems: security vulnerabilities that expand attack surfaces, erosion of consumer trust amid AI-generated content, and inconsistent customer experience quality. Commerce leaders must balance AI's competitive advantages against governance gaps and fraud risks that are accelerating faster than defenses.

Jul 24, 2026Read full article →
Impulse commerce era reshapes retail customer experienceAI-generated

Amazon and Walmart compress delivery and AI discovery into impulse buys

Retail / DTC › Grocery and Convenience Retailers › Supermarkets and Other Grocery Retailers (except Convenience Retailers)
LLM

Amazon Now and Walmart are deploying 30-minute delivery and AI shopping assistants that collapse product discovery and purchase windows into seconds, expanding impulse buying beyond the checkout aisle. For other retailers and DTC brands, this shift threatens visibility and margins unless they own a specific problem, optimize inventory placement, and convert first purchases into loyal repeat customers.

Jul 24, 2026Read full article →
Agentic AI transforms commerce operations and optimizationAI-generated

Motorway and AWS build production-ready AI agent evaluation blueprint

Retail / DTC › Automobile Dealers › New Car Dealers
LLM

Motorway and AWS developed an end-to-end evaluation pipeline for their dealer stock search agent that reduced incorrect results from 1 in 8 queries to 1 in 50, combining Strands Agents SDK with Amazon Bedrock AgentCore. Commerce teams can now adopt a three-layer evaluation framework and five-stage deployment pipeline to ensure AI agents perform reliably before production release.

Jul 24, 2026Read full article →
General AI in CommerceAI-generated

Untuckit experiments with AI-powered robotic apparel manufacturing

Manufacturing › Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing › Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing (except Contractors)

Apparel brand Untuckit is working with California-based AI robotics company CreateMe to develop stitch-free T-shirts using adhesive-bonding robots, aiming to reduce domestic production costs. As tariffs push brands away from China, AI-enabled automation offers a path to bring manufacturing closer to U.S. consumers without pricing products out of reach.

Jul 21, 2026Read full article →
Conversational AI transforms customer service across commerceAI-generated

AWS builds AI restaurant host using Bedrock AgentCore and Nova 2 Sonic

Food Service / Hospitality › Restaurants and Other Eating Places › Full-Service Restaurants
LLM

AWS published a guide for building a voice-ordering system that answers restaurant phone calls, takes orders, and confirms them using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Amazon Nova 2 Sonic connected to a restaurant backend via the Model Context Protocol. Restaurants miss an average of 150 calls per location monthly, with 60 percent attempting to place orders or book tables—a direct-to-revenue problem that AI telephony agents can solve without pulling staff off the floor.

Jul 19, 2026Read full article →
AI-powered supply chain optimization reshapes retail operationsAI-generated

Renfro expands Inspectorio AI platform for supply chain compliance

Manufacturing › Apparel Knitting Mills
DataLLM

Renfro Brands is expanding its use of Inspectorio's AI-powered platform to automate regulatory compliance, responsible sourcing, and supplier performance tracking across North America, Europe, and Asia. The move reflects a broader shift among consumer product manufacturers toward AI-driven workflows that replace manual compliance processes and strengthen vendor oversight.

Jul 19, 2026Read full article →
AI-generated content creates new fraud and authenticity risksAI-generated

Commercetools for Builders enables non-technical VP to build live storefront without code.

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
EcommerceLLM

A VP of Sales at commercetools built a fully functional World Cup-themed fan merchandise store using AI tools and commercetools for Builders, without writing a single line of code or requesting developer assistance. The demonstration shows that business professionals can now validate eCommerce ideas end-to-end and launch pre-production storefronts at speed without technical resources.

Jul 19, 2026Read full article →
AI-generated content creates new fraud and authenticity risksAI-generated

Generative AI enables scalable refund fraud for ecommerce merchants

Retail / DTC › Warehouse Clubs, Supercenters, and Other General Merchandise Retailers › All Other General Merchandise Retailers
LLM

Fraudsters now use generative AI to create fake product-damage photos, shipping records, and customer-service chats to exploit ecommerce refund processes without physical inspection. Commerce teams face a costly asymmetry: AI can fabricate convincing fraud in minutes, but detecting and challenging it requires manual review, investigation, and operational overhead.

Jul 19, 2026Read full article →
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