What happens when your best customer is no longer a person, but an AI agent acting on their behalf?
Agility requires not just adapting to new technologies, but fundamentally rethinking the customer journey when those technologies change the very definition of a customer. It demands a proactive stance on what’s next, rather than a reactive one.
Today, we’re going to talk about the seismic shifts happening in e-commerce, fresh off the floor of NRF 2026, and what it all means for the year ahead. We’ll explore the real-world impact of AI on the customer experience, the rise of agentic commerce, and how marketing leaders can prepare for a future that’s arriving faster than anyone expected.
To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome back Lena Moriarty, Head of Marketing at eTail™.
About Lena Moriarty
Lena Moriarty is the Head of Marketing at eTail, the conference community designed to power your growth 365 days a year. At eTail, she takes charge on all things omnichannel marketing and strategy, from point A to point Z.
Lena Moriarty on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/lenamoriarty
Resources
eTail Palm Springs: https://etailwest.wbresearch.com/
The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow
Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Palm Springs, Feb 23-26 in Palm Springs, CA. Go here for more details: https://etailwest.wbresearch.com/
Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://www.thecrmc.com/
Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://ratethispodcast.com/agile
Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom
Don’t miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show
Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com
The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
Transcript
[00:06:47] Greg Kihlstrom: What happens when your best customer is no longer a person, but an AI agent acting on their behalf? Agility requires not just adapting to new technologies, but fundamentally rethinking the customer journey when those technologies change the very definition of a customer. It demands a proactive stance on what’s next, rather than a reactive one. Today, we’re going to talk about the seismic shifts happening in e-commerce, fresh off the floor of NRF 2026, and what it all means for the year ahead. We’re going to explore the real-world impact of AI on the customer experience, the rise of agentic commerce, and how marketing leaders can prepare for a future that’s arriving faster than anyone expected. To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome back Lena Moriarty, head of marketing at ETail. Lena, welcome back to the show.
[01:34:64] Lena Moriarty: Greg, thank you for having me. It’s always a pleasure. I love the Agile Brand, so very excited to be here.
[01:40:24] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, love, love always love talking with you as well, and obviously looking forward to ETail Palm Springs as well and we’ll we’ll get to that um in a few minutes too. But uh you know, for those that didn’t catch a previous show with you, why don’t you give a little background on yourself and your role at ETail.
[01:55:54] Lena Moriarty: Yes, amazing. So, I’m Lena Moriarty. I’m the head of marketing at ETail. And what ETail is is a conference and insights community that encompasses retailers, e-commerce professionals, technology providers that really powers your growth 365 days a year. So, what that means is we love to unite the community, you know, we have our big next family affair, as we like to call it, coming up in February, ETail Palm Springs, which is our big flagship show, and that is going to be super fun and basically where everyone continues the conversation that just happened at NRF.
[02:30:44] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And and for those that haven’t caught it, I I I forget how many years I’ve been. It’s been it’s a it’s on my regular uh regular list of shows to attend at this point. Um, for those that haven’t caught it before, you know, what what can people expect at the upcoming ETail Palm Springs?
[02:45:94] Lena Moriarty: Yes, at ETail Palm Springs, I mean, this is going to be our biggest year ever. A little birdie told me. So, honestly, it’s so exciting to see that community keep growing and growing year after year, and I think that that speaks for itself. What you can expect is really buzz at every corner and retailers at every corner, you know what I mean? And you really bump into the people and have those organic conversations with everyone who is doing the work, putting in the time, is actually implementing some of these bigger topics that we’re about to dive into, which is so fun to just get to honestly, break down the conversation and get to see what’s working and what’s not, too. I think that that’s a big factor as well. And I think that that really encompasses the ETail community. So, what it is is like that amazing community of retailers, brands, D2C, you know, innovators, technology innovators, all in one place in beautiful Palm Springs. What’s better than that? So.
[03:40:64] Greg Kihlstrom: I know, I know. Nice. Well, yeah, and so leading, leading into that, uh, you know, we were both uh just at NRF in in New York a few days ago as of this recording. Cutting through some of the noise and, you know, there’s always there’s always a lot of a lot of announcements, a lot of a lot of things going on there uh quite quite an event. What was the one maybe dominant theme or even tension that you observed that retail and marketing leaders need to be paying serious attention to now?
[04:10:44] Lena Moriarty: Have you heard of agentic AI? No. I mean, I I forgot who posted on LinkedIn, but they were like, honestly, it is really the overarching theme, where I feel like even a few years ago, it was just talking about AI, AI, and now we’ve added that big buzzword, agentic. But it’s almost a lot of dominated conversation was about task-oriented AI and like moving away from the task automation to smarter, replacing more complexities within your day-to-day. And I think that whoever is cracking that code is really coming out on top and saving that time. And not just cracking that code, but also getting their talent and employees to adopt that AI proficiency, that AI use. And I think that that has been a major hurdle that we’re seeing, and that is was more openly discussed than I think I’ve seen before at past conferences, so that was really refreshing to see. And I also think that another big topic that stood out to me that um I got to catch in the press room at NRF was that, you know, we’re still talking about AI revenue in the billions when we’re discussing it. But the investment that we’re putting into the technology is still in the trillions, and we’re we’re using the word trillions. So, where will that gap kind of eventually narrow? Because, you know, while we may be doing big things with AI, we’re moving from, you know, basic AI task automation to more agentic AI, that really smarter level of AI. Where is the money coming from? I think that that still is is top of mind. And then, obviously, something that interests me so personally is the creator economy. I think that where the future of social commerce is going, where the future of the creator economy is going, you know, it’s projected to be get higher and higher, I think. I can’t remember the exact number off the top of my head, but by 2027, it’s on an exponential growth rate. So, I’m really excited to hear about from professionals. I was really excited to hear from professionals where they anticipate the future of that going within the next six months and 12 months, 18 months, and so on.
[06:17:14] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. I mean, so to go to go back to the the agentic piece, um, you know, I certainly there’s a lot of big announcements um last week, you know, every, you know, Google, Adobe, every everybody seems to have an agentic announcement. You know, I I feel like we’re in a kind of a land grab situation here of, you know, there might be a few players, but, you know, somebody somebody’s got to be the dominant players here, or, you know, everyone can’t be the hub of agentic, right?
[06:47:14] Lena Moriarty: Yeah, 100%. And this is a little bit of my marketing nerd talking. But there’s even an arms race, if you will, for who will become the household name for the word Google it. And I think that you’re seeing people use the word just chat GPT it. And I think that Google wants that with Gemini. Claude is wanting some of that space. And who is going to become kind of that next household AI name? I think Chat GPT is obviously an open an open AI team is just winning the race by far. But you’re seeing more of very marketable commercials come out where they’re trying to make it more human, more transparent, and more open to the the normal, the normal household consumer. So, I think that that’s really interesting, too.
[07:31:54] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah. So, how do some of these themes then translate to, you know, as as as we mentioned, you’re gearing up for um ETail Palm Springs. As of this this show going live, it’ll be a few weeks away. You know, how does how do some of these these overarching themes really lead to curating and uh, you know, preparing for for a conference like ETail Palm Springs?
[07:51:34] Lena Moriarty: 100%, 100%. That’s a great question. So, with that, I think that ETail Palm Springs picks up and dives deeper into some of these key themes that we see initially presented that set the stage for the new year at NRF. So, with that, like, you hear agentic AI, we took a whole summit day and dedicated it to AI, where you’re going to see, you know, Salvia, Steven Yang, go in and and show exactly how that technology works. Postscript, Remark, and then you’re also going to see during that summit retailers like Hibbett, like ThreadUp, showing exactly um how they’re using AI, and how it’s actually showing return on investment at this point. Because I think that like while a larger part of the conversation is about going away from task automation, I think that a lot of the every the everyday average marketer is still figuring out how to conquer the full task automation of AI and figuring out how to more clearly involve it and and mesh it within that day-to-day where it’s just second nature. And I think that we’re getting there, um, you know, I I believe that a lot of people will inflate where they are, but that’s why it’s great to hear from the best like Kayla Brown, like, you know, Kahi Cosmetics, Free People, talking exactly about how they’re using AI and this is how we’re saving money by doing XYZ. And I think breaking it down a little bit more into the nitty-gritty of it all is really helpful for the everyday retailer. So, that’s what I’m excited about. I think that like that is always so refreshing and exciting for me to hear exactly how it’s being used. And then again, we’ll also have a lot on we have a whole track on social commerce, a whole track on content and creative, and how much that matters. It seems like no one can really keep up with the amount of creative that is demanded for us right now, and it’s interesting to hear about those themes, um, being echoed at NRF that we’re going to see broken down even more at ETail.
[09:50:44] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think the, you know, for all the efficiency gains that AI drives, what I’ve seen, I mean, first of all, it’s so great to be able to hear real stories from brands that that are really, you know, they’ve maybe they’ve they’ve been through some challenges, but they’ve gotten through or they’re getting through and and we can we can benefit. Yeah.
[10:10:44] Lena Moriarty: Let’s be real about it, you know? Like we’re we’re no one is hopping on and immediately knowing it. There’s a reason that there are, you know, prompt guides about how to to properly input things in perplexity. Oh, that’s a big one that I forgot to mention before. Perplexity. That one that’s another one that I’m on every day, you know, and and figuring out how to properly prompt it so the output is worth the time that you’re spending with the input. And I think that I’m interested to see where the disparity could be with retailers adopting AI and then the agentic AI boom happening within the tech space and the tech sector.
[10:45:64] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah.
[10:52:14] Greg Kihlstrom: You know, I think a lot of the early talk and maybe even results from generative AI was in content creation, so, you know, write me a blog post, write me an email, you know, all those kinds of things.
[11:03:94] Lena Moriarty: Literally. Uh-huh, uh-huh.
[11:05:54] Greg Kihlstrom: Right. But, you know, there’s certainly a lot more that can be done and and I’m sure we’ll hear hear more about um some of those at the conference as well. But, you know, what are what are you seeing as far as like tangible real-world applications of AI for improving like the e-commerce experience?
[11:23:04] Lena Moriarty: Yeah, so this is where I think it’s funny with some of the disparity because what I think that I’m seeing the most retailers and e-commerce experts adopt it is things like optimizing SKU pages and making sure that all of your description pages are have no bugs, are matching up, you know, and and making sure that you’re having the custom GPTs that are able to then parse out that data, which is still very task-oriented, you know what I mean? And I think that like where we’re seeing a lot of beginner dabbling is the personalization at scale, and seeing how we can make that smarter on the backend where it’s more automated of processes. And I think that like that is where I’m seeing a lot of that real-world application, as well as using things like AI-generated content production. I think that that’s going to be a big one, too, and having ease of input. And then again, that’s process-oriented, where you’re having technology that then an influencer can upload it to, like something like Story Tap, and then you’re able to take the content, break it down, and and, you know, utilize it across channels. So, again, I think that there is a big knowledge gap that we’re wanting to fill with where we’re actually using AI in the day-to-day and where we want to be using AI in the day-to-day.
[12:40:44] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah.
[12:41:04] Lena Moriarty: Right? I don’t know, are you seeing something similar? Like what do you think?
[12:44:24] Greg Kihlstrom: Uh yeah, I mean, I think uh because I think that some of these tools like like Chat GPT got known for their ability to do very specific again, like the blog post example, like that’s that’s or, you know, writing copy. I think they’ve almost been um typecast, so to speak.
[13:03:54] Lena Moriarty: Ah, yeah. Or.
[13:04:44] Greg Kihlstrom: As like content generation tools when, you know, there’s there’s a lot of other possibilities and there’s also a lot of other tools outside of, you know, those a a handful that are really built for purpose for things like e-commerce and customer experience and and things. So, you know, I I think it’s it it takes some experimentation and potentially even some false starts, but I I think it’s it’s important for from my perspective, it’s important for leaders to really understand the full breadth of what’s possible so that, you know, you kind of get used to one thing, you get comfortable with it, and then it’s hard to kind of think outside of that to yeah.
[13:43:24] Lena Moriarty: Yes, very true. That’s a great point. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
[13:47:64] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah. So, um, you know, to the agentic point, um, you know, agentic commerce is certainly something that’s being talked about more and more as well. You know, I was really struck by, you know, I got some of the the holiday sales numbers and and stats from like Salesforce and Adobe and others. And I was really struck by how much consumers are using AI. You know, we always talk about marketers.
[14:10:94] Lena Moriarty: Me too.
[14:11:04] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, right.
[14:12:84] Lena Moriarty: Yeah.
[14:13:34] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, it’s it it’s really, it was interesting to me. I I wonder sometimes if there’s going to be a point where consumers are using it more and more, um, and and marketers are going to have a hard time keeping up. But, you know, with with AI assistant shopping on behalf of consumers, how does, you know, how do you see this playing out? I mean, moving beyond simple personalization, and, you know, what what what do brands need to do to be ready for this?
[14:40:54] Lena Moriarty: You know, I think that a lot of brands are not necessarily prepared for this next level of automated shopping assistance because I think that it is so deeply complex and it takes someone almost having a full-time job to sit there and learn to conquer that. And I think that we’re going to see more of that explicitly mapped out where we’re going to see AI e-commerce, you know, AI marketing, and and figuring out specific roles within the fuller scope of the company that are built to fully focus on that. Because it’s like you see things on the NRF show floor that are robots that are able to automatically talk to you, being programmed, and figuring out exactly what you know and knowing your name based on reading your name tag, you know? And I think that we’re seeing that next level of smarter AI. So, it’s about having the people that are in the background of that AI because, you know, AI is really nothing. I still really I really stand on that that it’s not anything without human power in the background. There is still some sort of human ability, human, you know, maneuvering. And I think that like having more people that are explicitly dedicated to figuring out the best way to optimize these agentic AI agents and their personalization capabilities will be that next step of where brands and retailers are headed. Because these, I said, like, they’re they’re full jobs, they’re full-time jobs. And and I think that exploring some of the tech available, you know, and that’s why something like ETail is so important because you’re able to tech shop in such a limited amount of time. And and you have four, three, four days, and you could say, okay, I am looking for XYZ, and you could go and and kind of cut that time because it is so time-consuming to to sit there and scope out and source, you know, the best technology because there is such a trial and error within the within the current retail burst. So, I think that that is kind of going to be very interesting and what sets people apart.
[16:38:74] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. Well, and then from the measurement perspective, you know, I think a a lot of organizations have gotten used to and it took a while to get used to even the the customer journey-based measurement of of things and the buyer’s journey and all that. And now, you know, with agentic, when we have agent-to-agent commerce, you know, let’s say, that’s it’s fundamentally changing what the buyer’s journey looks like. What do you see, you know, how does that change measuring success? I mean, obviously, a sale is still a sale at the, you know, at the end. But, you know, is this going to change how marketers should be looking at measurement and KPIs and and things like that?
[17:21:04] Lena Moriarty: You know, I think that every I always say the pendulum swings every every year or two where it’s like, the funnel is dead, the funnel’s alive, the funnel is dead. And it’s like, you never really know exactly where it’s going to lie. I think that something that I was talking about too, even internally, is how are we going to continue measuring ROI on items that are less solidly trackable. Things like influencer touchpoints. And and I think that I’m kind of in the pendulum right now of the funnel is a little bit more dead, except the basic principles still apply. So, it’s like, you know, half dead or whatever. But but with that, with that, I do think that the typical KPIs are going to be harder to follow because you’re going to have people bouncing around channels like crazy. I think that’s something that we’re seeing people bouncing around channels like ever never before. And then now when we’re throwing the ability to live shop with personalized recommendations from an agentic AI assistant, that really throws a wrench in it, too. I think that that is going to be very hard because, you know, people might be geared towards their TikTok search algorithm and and looking for things that are closer to that. And it’s like, how are you going to to counter that, and because you might be investing XYZ amount of time building up your TikTok community, just an example. Substack community. Substack is a big uh buzzword as well where it’s not a traditional social platform. So, I think that having those things almost throw a wrench in the traditional marketing KPIs are going to be fun and going to set, you know, the agile marketer, the agile brand um apart from, yeah, yeah, apart from from some of the more run-of-the-mill tactics.
[19:04:84] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And so, for those leaders out there out there listening and, you know, certainly I think there’s a lot of pressure. There’s even board pressure at this point to invest in AI, lots lots of pressure from from different angles. But still making the right investment with the right platforms is is still key.
[19:25:54] Lena Moriarty: Yes.
[19:26:54] Greg Kihlstrom: You know, you you mentioned the, you know, the value of of research and and being able to to do that and and, you know, with with very little time being able to still prioritize that. But, you know, how does how does a leader frame potential ROI of something that they, you know, truly believe is going to benefit, and yet, sometimes, you know, you’ve got to you’ve got to prove things out. You know, how how should leaders be thinking about this?
[19:51:24] Lena Moriarty: See, I think that that that’s a loaded question because I do think that you’re good at this. No, um, I think that honestly, breaking down what you are looking for to the actual tech provider. And that’s something that I’ve really learned from as head of marketing for ETail is speaking with the the experts within the technology that you’re looking to purchase and really explicitly outlining what are our KPIs for what what outline success for the next six months, for the next three months even of adoption. And how can that best fit into our current business model and where do you see that working and operating? And just being very honest because that’s what’s making the the technology providers get even better and more more skilled at answering our hard-hitting questions and our hard-hitting pain points, which is ultimately what we’re trying to address. And then I think that like using that to champion how you’re going to the leadership and saying, you know, I I really broke it down in this way. I know that this is what we’re trying to accomplish, and then this is how that tech can aim to help accomplish it. Because with that, we’re all trying to ultimately make money, right? That’s what it’s all about. And if the technology provider can show to you that this is going to help you make money, then it’s worth listening to. And if they can’t answer that question, then it might not be technology that you’re wanting to invest in at the moment, honestly. Because they need to be able to break it down for the modern-day marketer, for the modern-day consumer, because that’s who’s buying our product as well. So, I think that that’s really important uh to think about when you’re going into it.
[21:27:34] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. So, uh, let’s let’s talk a little more about uh the upcoming ETail Palm Springs. I know you gave us a little preview, but, you know, what what are you looking forward to most about it and and uh, you know, what we can expect?
[21:42:24] Lena Moriarty: What I am looking forward to most about it is something, you know, I can’t I’m an outgoing person and I love the networking. We really do. I think that Palm Springs is ETail Palm Springs is the perfect conference that takes some of the work out of networking. It makes it really easy and breaks it down in a really personable environment that makes it that makes conversation easy to flow. And that’s something that I absolutely love that, you know, our director of sales says Chet Silverman, Mr. ETail over and over. It really is a family reunion in that way because you’re just smiling at every corner and able to connect with someone new or old or a friendly face from LinkedIn at every corner. And that is personally my bread and butter. Additionally, like, you know, I think that I, like I said, as marketing, I face some of the same problems that these amazing retailers, brands, and technology marketers face as well. Yeah. Things like, you know, tracking ROI, um, content creation, and making sure that we keep up with the need of and the quantity that’s available. And I think that learning from some of the best is always so exciting for me. So, I’m really excited for that, too.
[22:51:74] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, love it. So, uh, you know, we’re pretty much at the beginning of the new year here, looking out a bit further to, you know, to this year. What what do you think is going to be the biggest single change that, um, in how brands and their customers interact, and what’s something a leader can do to to begin preparing for that?
[23:10:74] Lena Moriarty: I think that there is a need for transparency more than ever. And I think that brands that are taking a step and and thinking ahead of the curve for the customer wanting to connect with a human behind it. Because while our our group of, you know, our marketing bubble might be talking so heavily about AI, the average consumer is still very apprehensive about how we’re going outbound and connecting with them. So, I think that you’re seeing a lot of brands that are taking the lead on transparency and authenticity come out on top. And I think that having that balance and addressing that that could be an issue will be something that is getting ahead of the curve, honestly.
[23:56:04] Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. Well, Lena, always great to talk with you. Uh and uh got a couple couple last questions for you here. The first one, if we were having this interview one year from today, what is one thing that we would definitely be talking about?
[24:10:44] Lena Moriarty: I think that we’re going to be talking way more about non-traditional social channels like Substack and Pinterest and having those being more front of mind than the traditional TikTok and Instagram.
[24:24:04] Greg Kihlstrom: Nice, nice.
[24:24:54] Lena Moriarty: Yes.
[24:25:24] Greg Kihlstrom: And uh last question for you, what do you do to stay agile in your role and how do you find a way to do it consistently?
[24:31:44] Lena Moriarty: Speaking of those non-traditional channels, uh I’m a big Substack girl. I’m a big Substack girl. You know, I’m planning on actually launching my own Substack this year, so I’m very excited. Just a little newsletter to keep everyone on the on the ball and constantly be smarter or something is what it’s going to be called. But I I think I’m a big fan of traditional or some non-traditional substacks like Feed Me by Emily Sunberg, Express Checkout by Nate Rosen. Casey Lewis has a great one, too, all about Gen Z marketing, and it’s just really fun to be able to read different long-form content and break out of the traditional kind of short-form video breakdown and just take a second and dive into topics on a deeper level.
