Phillip and Alicia open the back-to-school season with a modern dichotomy: NRF data shows shoppers playing chicken, while Shopify posts a quarter where agentic traffic tripled. PLUS: After a summer abroad in London, Phillip reflects on behaviors unique to U.S. shoppers.

Key takeaways:

• Retailers are manufacturing visible human effort as a hedge against frictionless AI commerce.
• Play is a form of consumption. Browsing kids are already converting.
• Back-to-school splits into two camps: early movers and deal holdouts.
• Shopify's agentic traffic tripled as answer engines are becoming a back-to-school search surface.
• U.S. share of wallet favors experience, forcing a fusion of retail and hospitality.
• [00:17:11] Alicia: "When you create these spaces that are conducive to young people, you're kind of creating this magnet moment that ultimately motivates them to shop."
• [00:28:18] Phillip: "What’s really wild about the mini brands thing is…we all complain about shrinkflation, then also buy the mini of something, which is a premiumization of a per-unit cost…We are irrational by nature, and brands would do well to play at both ends of the spectrum."
• [00:40:17] Alicia: "[Søstrene Grene] almost feels like it's more high-touch because it's kind of imperfect."

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