CANNES — The future of shopping may involve conversations with bots, not browsing websites. Agentic shopping – where AI-powered agents handle purchases – is poised to become as crucial for brands and retailers as having a website is today.
“I do believe in the future of agent shopping,” said Michael Komasinski, CEO of Criteo, in a video interview with Beet.TV at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Komasinski envisions a landscape where every brand and retailer develops its own “agent front end,” analogous to having a website.
“It’s kind of like it’s like your new website,” Komasinski said. “You need an agent front end that might be talking to another agent front end.”
Scaling Agent Shopping with Advertising Data
Komasinski said advertising data provides insights into consumer interactions and preferences, fuelling the development of more effective and personalized agent experiences.
“I don’t think you can scale a meaningful interaction with consumers that way unless you are unless you have an advertising product that allows you to understand how people interact with it and the actions that they take,” Komasinski said. “And then to have a return path of some kind to to really build that flywheel.”
He likened this to Google’s early use of advertising data to refine its search product, arguing that agent shopping will follow a similar trajectory. “And I think agent shopping will be no different,” he said.
Agents for Branding
Criteo, a major player in the commerce media space, has recently focused on enhancing its retail media offerings. In April 2025, the company launched its Onsite Video solution, enabling shoppable video ads directly within retailers’ digital storefronts.
“Now, I also think on the on the supply side, I think consumer brands and retailers are going to want to put up agent front ends because that’s, I think, part of their value proposition and IP,” Komasinski said.
“They’re not going to want to surrender that and just be sort of a fulfillment center or a product catalog.”
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2025, presented by Criteo. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2025 here.
