Latest / Retail Media Breakfast Club / Shoptalk 2026: AI, Agentic Commerce & Retail Media’s Next Power Shift
Transcript
- Shop Talk ep === [00:00:00] Kiri Masters: Hello, happy Thursday. I'm coming to you from Shop Talk in Las Vegas. [00:00:06] I spent part of my day yesterday corralling people from the show floor to tell me about what insights they've picked up from Shop Talk [00:00:15] so far. We're going to hear from Katie Lundstrom from Adweek, Alex Arnet from Dentsu Newstream Media. Tom Liman from the Middleman Podcast. Suck at Meta from Nift. Leah Logan from Inmar, and Derek Nelson from [00:00:30] Eva. [00:00:31] And we're gonna hear about their takeaways around agentic commerce. Meta's, new in-store retail data, play offsite media, onsite video, the works. We might run a little over 10 minutes [00:00:45] today, but I'm sure you're gonna appreciate hearing all of these takes from the show floor at Shop Talk 2026. [00:00:51] Let's go. [00:00:52] [00:00:53] Katie Lundstrom in the flesh. How are you? I'm good. Yeah. How's your shop talk been? Um, [00:01:00] exhausting but great. Yeah. What have been some highlights for you? Um, I saw a debate yesterday, an onstage debate between. Scott Wino and ETA Chopra on one side, and then Andrew Lipman [00:01:15] and Sarah Marzano on the other side. [00:01:16] Arguing about spicy. Yeah. About whether agent commerce is really gonna change everything. And I think what it came down to was the definition of what agent commerce is. Right. Which I think a lot of people are arguing about right now. [00:01:30] Yes. There's very little, um, consensus. Yes. Consensus around the meaning of that. [00:01:34] Um, but I did, I was like very compelled by a point that I think Sarah and Andrew made that um, you know, people love to shop and [00:01:45] they're just not going to give, they're not gonna outsource all of that to robots. Sure. Even if it's pretty easy. Yeah. So there's like, definitely some things are going to change quite a bit. [00:01:56] And, um, what was the temp in the room? Like? Who [00:02:00] were people rooting for? Uh, I think people were laughing at Andrew and Sarah. Why? Um, because they're funny, you know? Okay. Okay. But, um, not laughing at them. Not laughing at the We laughing with them. Yeah. Laughing with them. So I think that felt like some, some [00:02:15] momentum on their side. [00:02:15] Okay. But I think like, at the end of the day, it's like we don't know the answers to these questions. Totally. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. Thank you. [00:02:24] [00:02:25] All right, Alex, on it. what have you taken away from Shop Talk so [00:02:30] far? been able to attend a lot of good panels, meet with a lot of good partners, learning lots, um. [00:02:36] So far, uh, of note, I was able to get a overview of Meta's new, um, Product set optimization product. Okay. Um, [00:02:45] very interesting. I feel like a lot of partners are moving more towards trying to optimize towards mid funnel to lower funnel even so with their, that new announcement, they're going to be working to optimize with, um. [00:02:59] [00:03:00] More store level sales data. Right. Directional metrics and trying to get closer to the physical stores. Physical stores. Yep. Yep. So I, I thought that was pretty interesting. And I think a lot of partners are moving more towards how we can get better [00:03:15] directional metrics to optimize, um, towards omnichannel across multiple channels. [00:03:19] That was part of the new offering too, is it's, it's gonna span across, um, web app and in store, and in store being a key piece of it. And so like. What a time to live in where [00:03:30] Meta is getting into in-store retail media. Seriously. Yeah. So I think there's a lot of competition, right? I think, uh, um, it's gonna be needed, right? [00:03:40] To continue to compete for brand spend, right? To provide more, [00:03:45] more metrics that are proof oriented, right? Yeah. And talk about performance marketing. And I think traditionally you think of meta as more like awareness focus or even engagement, and they're just trying to get closer to that funnel. And really prove out the value of the performance of their [00:04:00] media. [00:04:01] What I think is interesting there is also that it, it gives some power back to brands to activate themselves. Yes. Which is something that they real, they, they want to work with the DSP of their choice. They want [00:04:15] to be able to activate and, and get all that, those metrics right away. So it seems a little counterintuitive to do all of that through meta, but it's what brands rock want. [00:04:25] Yes, definitely. So giving more power back to the brands. I know it's gonna be self [00:04:30] service as well. Yeah. So I think we're gonna see, continue to see a lot more partners bringing more offerings like that. Yeah. As a, uh, landscape is so competitive. Right. [00:04:40] [00:04:41] All right, Tom Lemon Jello Middleman podcast. [00:04:45] Um, what have you taken away from Shop Shop Talk so far? So it's been a couple months since I was in Las Vegas. Last time they were talking, most of the retailers were talking about extending incrementality to their services, like search, [00:05:00] um, and in store this time around, what I am hearing and seeing is retailers talk about. [00:05:06] We are moving offsite in a more controlled way. So that could be we're moving Google product listing ads, as we heard a couple weeks ago, [00:05:15] Kroger talking about how we're moving into DB 360. Um, I think those are the types of things where the retailers used to have a challenge selling offsite because they were, you know, when we were just talking about this is this, you know, is this truly incremental? [00:05:29] Is it [00:05:30] not? Um, I think the more the retailers control their data infrastructure. And then more deliberately move into offsite channels. We see some really interesting results. And to me, the, the tension is what does this mean to the agencies? You know, are [00:05:45] the, are the retailers starting to take some of the agency's work here? [00:05:48] So that's sort of my takeaway so far. Absolutely. Well, Amazon is, they're coming after the agencies, so whatever Amazon does, everyone else follows along at some point. [00:06:00] Miracle Ads is the Ad Tech solution trusted by Rakuten and over 50 global enterprise retailers. That's because Miracle Ads was built with both three P [00:06:15] Marketplace sellers and one P suppliers in mind. Both advertiser audiences demand a seamless advertising journey from onboarding to reporting. [00:06:24] Kiri Masters: You can offer everything from sponsored products to video ads all in one [00:06:30] solution. Learn more@miracle.com. That's M-I-R-A-K l.com. Saka Meta Chief Revenue Officer at nift. [00:06:40] I think my highlight has been around all of the innovations that are [00:06:45] going on within commerce. [00:06:46] So whether it's agentic commerce, whether it's how commerce media is evolving in new and different ways. Just all of the different perspectives compared to last year in terms of the verticals of companies, industries, and how [00:07:00] disruptive every, you know, all these companies are in terms of how commerce and retail is evolving in a unique way. [00:07:05] [00:07:06] I am Leah Logan. Um, I am with Inmar Intelligence. I lead retail media transformation. So far the highlight for me has [00:07:15] been trying to reduce the hype cycle on AgTech commerce by focusing more on the content needed for AgTech commerce to work. [00:07:24] Mm-hmm. Um, huge proponent of creators in retail media and content strategy and really [00:07:30] coming from a place of value. Yep. And I think. AgTech shopping, uh, will, will play a role in discovery. I'm super excited about it. I definitely am using chat to book my next vacation. Um, but in terms of the investments now, I think we all need to be investing in [00:07:45] content. [00:07:45] Now, you were asking a question with your video series about short form. Yes. So why is Shortform on a retailer site? Is that a thing again? 'cause it's been a, it's, it's come and gone a couple of times. [00:08:00] Yeah, I mean, I think that there's a ton of opportunity. You have all of these retailers looking for more onsite inventory opportunities. [00:08:08] They're looking for profitability. Yep. And I'm like, why are there not more video displays? Like, why are we not doing [00:08:15] more sponsored video? When you think about, um, you know, mistakes of the past, I think you're using canned brand content and that's, you know, putting your, your commercial on a shopping page is not the right experience. [00:08:27] But this is where I think. Having [00:08:30] that usage occasion, contextual video is needed and I do think it will accelerate the commerce experience. Yeah, [00:08:37] [00:08:38] Uh, hi, I'm Derek Nelson. I lead retail media consulting at Eva Group. So what have you taken away from the show [00:08:45] so far? [00:08:45] ? Uh, AI is still a big thing. Yeah, right. one thing that was kind of a new trend that I didn't hear at previous years is people thinking about retail media less as, uh, a monetization channel and more as like a how do we actually use retail [00:09:00] media Okay. To lift a retailer's performance, right? [00:09:03] So I work mostly with retailers and it's always been about how do we generate more revenue, how do we increase margin? But I'm hearing a lot more conversations that are really genuinely focused on partnership and being able to lift both sides of the [00:09:15] business. For the brands and for the retailers. How does media, how does retail media do that? [00:09:20] Well, it's really complicated, right? Getting the brands to work more holistically and think about like, Hey, what is your national budget doing and how is that driving in store? And then how are those in store [00:09:30] moments or on site moments specifically activating to pick up that conversation and convert at the most opportune times. [00:09:37] Yeah. I have a question. I've, I've been hearing from retailers that they, an area of opportunity for them is. To double [00:09:45] down on, uh, the, the brand of the retailer. And that's a selling proposition and for a brand to kind of align with the retailer's brand that equity and some of these have been around for, for decades. [00:09:57] Um, do you hear much about that? [00:10:00] I mean, having a, a co-branded creative for one, right? Like that's always been a huge sort of value add sort of requirement from the retailer. I think it. Is generally helpful for brands. Um, it [00:10:15] increases call to action. It's a clear signal to customers, it co-ops that trust, especially if you've got a new brand or a new product launch or something. [00:10:22] Any type of trust that you can get from a retail partner is a huge differentiator and a huge step forward. [00:10:28]