Just a few years ago, marketers worried about vanishing cookies. In 2026, the bigger concern might be vanishing brands.
Picture this: A CMO at a premium e-bike company decides to run a quick audit – how well do their products show up in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and other AI-driven tools that consumers are increasingly using to search and shop? The results are bleak. Their products barely surface. Only one AI tool even recommends them.
Welcome to the rise of Agentic Commerce, and the slow disappearance of traditional brand paths to purchase.
We’re entering a new reality where shopping journeys are no longer navigated by consumers but delegated to intelligent agents. Think AI shopping assistants that don’t just help you decide – they decide for you. That’s a seismic shift for brand marketers, and most aren’t ready.
From retail media to commerce media – and beyond
Let’s back up. In recent years, Retail Media has dominated marketing conversations – and with good reason. But signs suggest the hype is cooling. Industry mood checks in Europe, such as IAB Europe’s recent Attitudes to Retail Media Report, show that expectations have not been fully met. 49% of media professionals see a high need for optimization, particularly in areas such as measurement and reporting, indicating that Retail Media has yet to fully deliver on its promise.
Retail Media still suffers from walled gardens, lack of standards, and patchy transparency. Brands want more than proximity to purchase – they want real performance.
That’s where Commerce Media comes in: a broader view that includes not just retailers, but travel platforms, food delivery, payment providers and any app where transactions happen. Mastercard’s recent pivot is a clear example: they’re now turning 160 billion annual transactions into a targeting engine for cross-channel advertising. That’s not Retail Media — that’s Commerce Intelligence.
The rise of agentic commerce
Agentic Commerce describes a future in which AI-powered shopping agents can research, compare, and complete purchases autonomously without the consumer needing to visit a website or open an app. These agents are becoming proxies for the consumer, making choices on their behalf.
According to McKinsey, around half of consumers already use AI to search for products online. By 2026, the consultancy expects 15–20% of digital shopping interactions to be initiated or completed by agent systems – a figure that could equate to $3–5 trillion in B2C commerce by 2030. The implications for marketers are huge.
3 ways brands risk being left out
1. They lose control of the customer journey: Purchase decisions increasingly happen outside the brand’s own ecosystem.
2. They get reduced to price and availability: Such functional factors outweigh brand storytelling.
3. They’re invisible to the algorithm: Decision-making by AI agents is hard to audit or influence without the right data infrastructure.
So, what should brands do now?
First, rethink content and data strategy. Product information must be structured, machine-readable, and constantly updated. Brands should invest in their own AI agents that act in their interest – not just wait for third-party platforms to shape the narrative.
Second, stay culturally present. Even if agents guide transactions, human trust still matters. Recommendations are still validated via social media and reviews. That means credibility and emotional presence across the journey are more important than ever.
And third, evolve measurement. As commerce journeys become fragmented, KPIs like incrementality, customer lifetime value, and attention across AI touchpoints will matter more than last-click conversions.
Final thought: CMOs need to stop thinking in campaigns
In 2026, the real competitive advantage won’t lie in pushing harder on traditional media plans. It will come from integrating AI-aware data, structured product content, and automated commerce touchpoints into a consistent ecosystem.
Brands that adapt now will be visible in the AI-powered future. Those that don’t risk becoming a blank space in a machine-generated shortlist.
This Article was first published in LBB.
