Artificial Intelligence (AI)

At Shoptalk in Las Vegas last month, Total Retail Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan spoke with Elina Vilk, president and chief business officer, and Lisa Horton, chief communications and creative officer at David's Bridal, the wedding technology company, media powerhouse, and marketplace platform. They discuss the bridal company's "Aisle to Algorithm" strategy, balancing the risks and rewards…

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping retail payments in practical ways. The impact is not theoretical. It is visible in how transactions are approved, how devices operate, and how customers move through the buying journey. The biggest structural change is in real-time decisioning. Retailers rely on fast, consistent payment flows, and friction at checkout directly affects…

Retail and consumer packaged goods (RCPG) companies have entered a definitive phase where operational precision is no longer a competitive advantage but the baseline for survival. In 2026, the industry is grappling with a stark consumer polarization. On one side, a value-seeking segment is trading down and scrutinizing every penny; on the other, a premium…

At Shoptalk in Las Vegas last month, Total Retail Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan spoke with Paul Toms, chief marketing officer at Wayfair, one of the world's largest destinations for the home. They delve into Wayfair's multifaceted growth strategy, including the opening of physical retail stores in Chicago and Atlanta (with more locations to come), as well…

Joe Keenan interviews experts from OLLY and Contentsquare on the rise of AI-driven search.

Shoptalk 2026 had little choice when creating the theme for this year’s show: “Retail in the Age of AI.” But what artificial intelligence actually means to the thousands of retailers and brands that will be attending the show varies significantly. Some brands and retailers care about intelligence, some about automation, while others want to improve…

The search bar isn’t dead, but it’s no longer running the show. For years, retail marketing teams optimized content for search engines that crawled text and hunted for keywords. Now, generative artificial intelligence tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, answer shoppers' questions directly, drawing from a much wider pool of user-generated signals. They determine which…

Your next most valuable customer isn't a person. It's an artificial intelligence agent, and it's already shopping. Whether through personal assistants or retailer-embedded tools, AI is shifting retail from search-driven discovery to intent-driven commerce, where the sale is won before a consumer starts browsing. Think that's just wishful thinking from people who work in tech?…

Increasingly, shoppers aren’t beginning their journey on a retailer’s website. Instead, they’re asking ChatGPT what to buy. They’re scrolling TikTok Shop. They’re clicking marketplace recommendations. According to Gartner, by the end of 2026, traditional search engine volume is expected to decline by 25 percent as consumers shift toward artificial intelligence chatbots and other virtual agents…

Retailers have spent the past several years optimizing for speed. Faster chat response times. Faster email acknowledgments. Faster automation, especially during holiday periods or major sales events. Yet many customer experience leaders have noticed a disconnect: service feels faster, but satisfaction isn’t meaningfully improving. In some cases, customers must reach out multiple times to get…