Is your next customer a bot? The way consumers shop and discover products is undergoing significant changes, marked by a highly fragmented journey that spans social feeds, e-commerce platforms, retail media, and AI services.
Just when retail media was exploding, AI-powered interaction services are now determining which products are presented to consumers, effectively acting as gatekeepers.
According to Elena MacGurn, SVP, search, national SEO lead, Digitas North America, in a video interview with Beet.TV, “They’ve really become a one-stop shop for a lot of the experiences that we see for a consumer shopping discovery journey today,” she said, referring to AI search platforms.
From Visibility to Being Chosen
OpenAI recently announced Stripe powering instant checkout capability in ChatGPT, alongside a new Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), a technology which could let bots buy on users’ behalf.
Brands and agencies need to invest in strategies that make their products the preferred option when AI search assistants make recommendations, MacGurn said.
“I think that conversation is shifting from being visible to being chosen,” she said. “So, how do we then invest in those future AI tech options, strategies as brands, as agencies to make sure that the products that we’re putting out there, the information we’re putting out there is telling that consistent story with a multi-channel strategy, cross-funnel, so that our product is the product that is chosen when it’s time for those AI search assistants to make a recommendation.”
By focusing on a multi-channel strategy and ensuring a consistent brand story, advertisers can increase the likelihood that their products will be selected by AI platforms.
Evolving Consumer Expectations
“Our attention span is shorter, our expectation has very much evolved from seeing tons of information, seeing options, to now wanting answers. We want solutions,” MacGurn said. “So they’re expecting the answers and they’re also delegating that shopping experience a lot more now to AI search engines as well.”
Consumers are increasingly delegating shopping tasks to AI search engines, expecting personalized recommendations and seamless experiences.
Digitas North America launched the NX Score, an AI-powered index designed to measure brand connection in a post-funnel world in August 2025. This tool aims to provide brands with clarity on their market presence and consumer engagement.
Don’t Wait, Start Now
For advertisers seeking to build and expand their search strategies, MacGurn advises immediate action. Given the rapid changes in consumer behavior and the continuous learning of large language models, brands cannot afford to wait for a perfect playbook.
“So my number one advice to brands when it comes to the many different changes that we’re seeing in the search space today, today with agentic shopping, AI search, right, retail organic commerce trends as well: don’t wait,” MacGurn said. “Get in there, start small, start measurable, see what works, and then scale it to make sure that you cover more ground with more products across more markets.”
Large language models are constantly being trained on new data, meaning that brands that delay their entry into AI search risk falling behind competitors who are already feeding product details into these models. By starting small and measuring results, brands can iteratively refine their strategies and expand their reach.
You’re watching “From Walls to Bridges: The Power of Cross-Functional Data Collaboration”, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at GroceryShop 2025, presented by Epsilon. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
