Holiday 2026 is coming, and your next customer might be an AI bot. Today on The Voice of Retail, Caila Schwartz, Head of Agentic Commerce and Shopper Insights at Salesforce, is back with brand-new State of Commerce data. AI-powered discovery is up 200%. Canadian retailers are leading on agentic AI, but they're three times more likely to be stuck in pilot mode. Caila shares the three moves to make before Black Friday, why your product descriptions still need a human touch, why Reddit reviews now shape what ChatGPT says about your brand, and whether shoppers will ever let an AI agent hit "buy" for them. If you want to win the holiday season, stick around. This one's a must-listen.
AI-powered discovery is no longer niche behaviour. It's now a mainstream step in the shopping journey, and holiday 2026 will be the first peak season where retailers compete for the attention of shoppers and AI agents alike. In this episode of The Voice of Retail, host Michael LeBlanc welcomes back Caila Schwartz, Head of Agentic Commerce and Shopper Insights at Salesforce, to unpack the latest Salesforce State of Commerce research and share what Canadian retailers can still do before Black Friday.
Caila, who has studied holiday shopping for more than a decade, explains why consumers adopted agentic AI so quickly, with AI-driven discovery up 200% year over year. The data shows Canadian commerce leaders ahead of the global average on agentic AI adoption, yet three times more likely to be stuck in pilot mode. Caila says the gap comes down to data strategy: launching an AI agent without clean, unified data is risky, especially under Canadian consumer protection and privacy rules.
With peak season approaching, Caila lays out a practical holiday readiness plan. First, turn on the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to feed accurate product, pricing and inventory data directly into ChatGPT, as bot traffic from OpenAI, Gemini, Meta AI, TikTok and Amazon surges across ecommerce sites. Second, optimize product detail pages for AI agents with human-written, use-case-driven product descriptions and FAQ sections covering holiday shipping deadlines and policies. Third, manage customer reviews on your own site and on third-party platforms like Reddit and Trustpilot, because large language models are pulling that content into their answers about your brand.
The conversation also explores how product discovery is shifting: discovery on brand-owned properties is down 7%, traditional search is down 15%, and AI assistants and social are up 38%. Caila makes the case that retailers now need an SEO strategy, an LLM strategy and a social shopping strategy, all unified, and explains why customer service is becoming central to marketing.
Physical stores remain the heart of holiday retail, with more than 80% of Canadians preferring to shop in store. But 79% of shoppers are on their phones in the aisle, 12% are asking AI assistants for purchase advice, and 48% of Canadians research products before they arrive. Caila explains why consistent pricing and promotions across channels matter, and how unified customer profiles can empower store associates.
Finally, Michael and Caila tackle autonomous shopping. Will Canadians let an AI agent complete a purchase? Caila's research suggests shoppers want AI for discovery and personalized recommendations, but still want to own the checkout on the brand's website.
Whether you're a retail executive, ecommerce leader or marketer, this episode is your essential guide to agentic commerce, AI search, omnichannel retail and holiday 2026 strategy.
See All the data and insights here:
https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/agentic-search-growth/