As eCommerce Expo and Technology for Marketing approach, Adobe shares perspectives on agentic commerce, AI-powered discovery and connected digital experiences, and why retailers must focus innovation on solving real customer and business challenges.
 

What industry trends are you looking forward to seeing at this year’s eCommerce Expo and Technology for Marketing?

I’m particularly excited to see how the conversation around AI moves from experimentation to real-world commerce. We’ve spent the last couple of years talking about generative AI helping people create content or work more efficiently; now we’re moving towards AI actively participating in the customer journey – discovering products, comparing options and increasingly acting on a customer’s behalf.

That shift towards agentic commerce raises some fascinating questions for retailers. What happens when your next customer isn’t necessarily a person browsing your website, but an AI agent? How does product discovery, personalisation, content and even the role of the traditional storefront evolve?

I’m also interested in how retailers are connecting AI with composable technology, data and content to create genuinely intelligent experiences rather than simply adding another AI feature. That intersection between technology innovation and practical customer value is where things get interesting.

What are the biggest challenges facing eCommerce retailers heading into Q4 and peak season?

Peak season has always been about balancing growth, margin and operational resilience, but that balancing act is becoming harder.

Customers expect relevant, frictionless experiences while retailers are under pressure to acquire customers efficiently, protect margin and manage increasingly complex operations. During peak, those challenges become amplified: more traffic, more content and promotions, greater fulfilment pressure and far less tolerance from customers when something goes wrong.

I think another challenge is knowing where to invest. AI has created an enormous number of opportunities, but retailers don’t need AI everywhere – they need it in the places where it can materially improve customer experience, conversion or operational efficiency.

For me, the winners this peak season won’t necessarily be the businesses deploying the most technology. They’ll be the ones that connect content, data and commerce effectively and use technology to remove friction for both customers and the teams running the business.

What is most exciting to you about the eCommerce and digital marketing industry right now?

The definition of a digital experience is being rewritten.

For most of eCommerce history we've designed experiences around a fairly predictable journey: a customer searches, lands on a site, browses a catalogue, looks at a product page and eventually checks out. AI is starting to break that model apart.

Discovery can happen through social platforms, creators, marketplaces, conversational interfaces and AI assistants. Increasingly, the customer may arrive much further along their decision journey – or an AI agent may interact with a retailer on their behalf.

That creates a huge opportunity. Commerce becomes less about optimising individual pages and more about making products, content, data and services intelligent and accessible wherever customer intent appears.

Why is it important to bring the industry together at events like eCommerce Expo and Technology for Marketing?

Because no company solves these challenges alone.

Great commerce experiences sit at the intersection of retailers, brands, technology providers, agencies, implementation partners, marketers and increasingly an entirely new ecosystem of AI technologies.

Events like eCommerce Expo give us an opportunity to get outside our own organisations and compare what’s happening in the market: what customers are asking for, what retailers are experimenting with, what's delivering measurable value and where the hype might be running ahead of reality.

That exchange is especially important during periods of rapid technology change. Innovation happens much faster when we share what we’re learning rather than trying to predict the future in isolation.

What’s the best piece of advice you would give to new people joining the industry?

Stay curious about the problem, not just the technology.

eCommerce has always moved quickly. The technologies we're excited about today will change, and AI will accelerate that cycle even further. But the fundamentals remain surprisingly consistent: understand the customer, understand the business problem and then work out how technology can create a better outcome.

I’d also encourage people to spend time outside their immediate discipline. Learn a little about marketing, data, UX, technology, operations and commercial strategy. Some of the most interesting problems in commerce exist between those disciplines rather than neatly inside one of them.

And finally, stay close to customers. Their problems are usually a much better indicator of where the industry is heading than any technology trend.

If you got the chance to reboot any ‘90s or 2000s brand for 2026 eCommerce, which one are you bringing back and how are you marketing it?

I’d bring back Blockbuster – but not as a video rental store.

I’d reinvent it as an entertainment discovery brand. One of the things we've lost in the move to streaming is the experience of walking into a store with no idea what you want and discovering something because somebody recommended it.

For 2026, I’d make that experience AI-powered and conversational. Instead of scrolling endlessly through thumbnails, you could tell Blockbuster: “It’s Friday night, there are four of us, we want something funny but not a rom-com, and we've got two hours.” It would curate the night rather than simply return search results.

Then I’d build the marketing around nostalgia and creators: “Make it a Blockbuster night” reimagined for a generation overwhelmed by choice.

It’s a great illustration of where commerce is heading using AI not simply to make an existing experience faster, but to reinvent the experience around customer intent.

Join us on the 'Connected Commerce Stage' to learn 'Commerce Beyond the Storefront: How AI Agents are Rewriting Digital Commerce' – Product Demo — Shaun McCran, Adobe Commerce Product Marketing, explores how AI agents, intelligent content and modern commerce platforms are reshaping product discovery and customer experiences, with practical guidance for retailers preparing their commerce strategy for an AI-first future.

Date: 23 September

Stage: Connected Commerce Stage

Time: 11:45–12:10