What happens when an ad finds you at exactly the right moment, but still gets the job wrong? I found myself standing in the bolts aisle at Bunnings, using ChatGPT to figure out which bolt I needed for my home studio setup, when an ad helpfully reminded me that I could buy bolts at Bunnings. The problem? I was already there. What I really needed was for my AI assistant to tell me whether the bolt I needed was in stock on the shelf in front of me.

That experience got me thinking about the future of AI shopping, the limitations of the Amazon-inspired retail media playbook, and what actually makes a retailer different. In this episode, I explore why retail media networks need to build around their retailers’ unique strengths rather than simply maximize ad revenue, what new research tells us about how consumers validate AI-generated product recommendations, and why real-time inventory, physical store networks, and customer relationships could become retailers’ biggest advantages in the age of AI-enabled commerce.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

00:00 – The Bunnings aisle experience that exposed a blind spot in AI shopping ads.

01:35 – Why AI shopping often starts with a general-purpose assistant and ends in a physical store.

02:25 – Why Amazon’s retail media revenue model doesn’t necessarily translate to other retailers.

03:35 – The operational realities of building an in-store retail media network across independently owned locations.

05:30 – Finding the “holy” part of your retail media network: protecting the competitive advantage that keeps customers coming back.

07:00 – What consumer research reveals about AI product recommendations, trust, and where shoppers go to validate their choices.

08:39 – Why retailer AI assistants need to solve real shopping problems, and how local inventory could be a retailer’s biggest advantage.

Links & Resources

• Watch a conversation The Drum published this week, which was recorded in September after the AdClub of New York's Commerce Media Exchange. Myself, Gordon Young from The Drum and Marc Walkin of QSIC debated the concept of a retail media playbook.
• Kantar's latest Media Reactions study — watch the webinar
• The AI research I coauthored with Bazaarvoice
• Read my related articles:
  • ‘I’m a realist’: Gopuff’s head of ads on why it handed its onsite adtech to Instacart (The Drum)
  • The Shopping Signals That Are Changing With AI
  • AI Makes Shopping Easier. But Shoppers Still Check The Receipts.
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn