What: AI platforms are rapidly shifting retail power, challenging brands to maintain direct customer relationships and data ownership.

Why it is important: This development highlights the urgent need for retailers to invest in proprietary data and AI integration to remain competitive.

The growing dominance of AI platforms is transforming the dynamics of customer relationships in retail, compelling brands to rethink how they engage and retain their audiences. As agentic commerce and generative AI become central to product discovery and purchase, retailers face the risk of losing direct access to their customers, along with valuable data and brand loyalty. To counter this, leading retailers are investing in proprietary data, domain-specific AI models, and organisational transformation, enabling more accurate automation, efficient operations, and hyper-personalised experiences. The industry is witnessing a shift from traditional marketing and loyalty tactics to AI-optimised content and strategies designed to appeal to AI agents, which now play a pivotal role in shaping consumer journeys. As retail emerges as one of the sectors most vulnerable to AI-driven disruption, the ability to build defensibility through in-house AI capabilities and first-party data is becoming a critical differentiator. Those who adapt quickly and strategically are best positioned to maintain relevance and customer trust in an increasingly AI-mediated marketplace.

IADS Notes: The rapid adoption of agentic commerce, as reported by the Financial Times in November 2025, is shifting retail power to AI platforms and challenging brands to safeguard customer relationships and data. BCG’s February 2026 and January 2026 analyses confirm that only retailers who fully integrate AI and invest in proprietary data and organisational change are achieving sustained growth and resilience. Retail Touchpoints in January 2026 highlights the competitive advantage of domain-specific AI, while Inside Retail in November 2025 details the new tactics brands are using to optimise for AI agents. The Consumer AI Disruption Index from January 2026 further underscores the sector’s vulnerability to AI-driven disruption, emphasising the need for defensibility through first-party data and hyper-personalised engagement.

AI doesn’t own the customer yet. Here’s how retailers can keep it that way