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Why the Next Billion-Dollar Brand Won’t Have a Website | Roy Rubin, Entrepreneur and Investor
In this episode of Retailgenic, host Scot Wingo sits down with Roy Rubin, co-founder of Magento and General Partner at R-Squared Ventures, to explore the future of e-commerce in an AI-driven world.Roy shares why he believes the next billion-dollar DTC brand won’t even need a website, what agentic shopping means for the future of retail, and how platforms like Shopify and Amazon may get disrupted next.We also dive into:The founding story and evolution of MagentoWhat went wrong (and right) during its acquisition by eBay and later AdobeHis prediction that AI agents will replace traditional commerce UIsThe good, bad, and ugly of agentic platforms like Perplexity📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.Notable Timestamps:00:01:02 — What is Retailgenic and why now?00:02:11 — Meet Roy Rubin: Magento founder, now VC00:04:43 — The billion-dollar brand with no website?00:06:07 — Origin story: How Magento was born00:13:03 — PayPal's early investment & eBay’s acquisition00:27:12 — Roy’s VC firm and investment thesis00:40:00 — Agentic shopping and future of AI commerce00:44:46 — Social commerce & influencer-powered retail00:47:00 — Virtual influencers, LLMs, and the closed web?
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Agentic Commerce, AI Checkout, and the Future of Retail | Matt Nichols, Commerce Ventures
In this episode of Retailgenic, host Scot Wingo sits down with Matt Nichols, General Partner at Commerce Ventures, to unpack the future of agentic commerce, the evolving role of AI shopping agents, and the new infrastructure needed to support them.Matt shares:- Why enriched product catalogs will power LLM-driven shopping- How AI-native checkout layers could disrupt traditional eCommerce- What retailers and marketplaces must decide about exposing data to AI platforms- Insights into Commerce Ventures’ investment thesis and portfolio companies like Kevel, Portless, and OptiversalFrom personalized retail media to tokenized payments and stablecoins, this wide-ranging conversation explores the critical infrastructure needed for a future where AI, not humans, drive most online shopping.🔔 Subscribe for more insights at the intersection of retail, eCommerce, and AI⏱ Notable Timestamps:00:01:56 – Guest intro: Matt Nichols, General Partner at Commerce Ventures00:04:50 – From VC to operator: Lessons from running a jewelry eCommerce brand00:06:00 – How SEO and dynamic product creation powered growth00:10:38 – How Commerce Ventures partners with strategic LPs00:14:00 – Unique investment model: small first check, large follow-on00:19:15 – Thematic investment areas: low-inventory retail, agentic payments, and AI-powered email00:25:56 – Agentic product catalogs: new expectations for PDP data00:28:00 – Why we need a Shopify for AI-driven commerce00:30:00 – Mastercard’s agentic wallet concept explained00:34:00 – How retailers can create compelling AI on-site experiences00:39:00 – Pricing wars: Will agentic shopping force new price structures?00:44:00 – Why eCommerce growth has plateaued (and what might reignite it)00:49:00 – Ads in AI overviews: The next monetization challenge for Google📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.
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Retail Media, GenAI & Agentic AI Shopping | Sucharita Kodali, Forrester
In this episode, Scot Wingo is joined by Forrester retail analyst Sucharita Kodali to dive into the emerging world of agentic shopping and the growing influence of generative AI in commerce. They cover:- The explosion of retail media networks- Why marketplaces are making a comeback- OpenAI’s retail ambitions (and that Instacart CEO hire)- GenAI adoption across retail use cases- The rising threat to Google from TikTok and AI search- What’s actually agentic vs. “faugentic”⏱ Notable Timestamps:00:06 – What is Retailgenic and what’s at stake in AI shopping03:00 – Why retail media networks exploded post-COVID07:30 – Instacart’s ad business & the OpenAI CEO move10:00 – How big retailers are actually using GenAI today14:00 – Is Google search under threat from ChatGPT, TikTok & Perplexity?20:00 – Agentic shopping: hype vs. reality26:00 – Could AI replace ticket brokers and influence high-demand shopping?31:00 – The power of TikTok shopping and influencer-led discovery33:00 – Closing thoughts on what’s truly “agentic” vs. faugentic👉 Subscribe for more deep dives into the AI commerce revolution: https://www.retailgentic.com📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.
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35:51
How AI Agents Are Already Transforming Retail | Michelle Grant, Salesforce
In this episode of Retailgentic, Scot Wingo is joined by Michelle Grant, Director of Strategy & Insights for Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce. Michelle brings powerful insights from Salesforce’s massive retail data sets, surveys, and first-hand industry experience.They dive deep into:🧠 How Gen Z is driving the adoption of AI shopping agents📊 Data from Salesforce’s Connected Shoppers Report🤖 Where AI agents are showing up in real-world retail—from customer service to marketing and inventory📈 What brands and retailers must do to stay relevant in the agentic future💬 Why websites aren’t going away—but will need to evolve fastIf you want to understand the real-world impact of generative and agentic AI in commerce, this episode is a must-watch.0:00 - Intro and Michelle’s background 2:00 - What Michelle does at Salesforce 5:45 - Salesforce’s data sources: Commerce Cloud + surveys 8:00 - GenAI traffic trends (Q1 2025 data) 10:30 - AI agent traffic from ChatGPT & Gemini 12:00 - Social vs. search vs. agentic behavior 14:10 - Connected Shoppers Report overview 15:00 - Gen Z adoption of AI agents 18:20 - What consumers want AI agents to do (customer service, returns, loyalty) 22:00 - Retailer adoption of agentic tools 26:00 - The future of retail websites 30:00 - Hyper-personalization and AI memory 35:00 - Final thoughts on retail strategy in the AI era📰 Make sure to subscribe to the Retailgentic Substack: https://www.retailgentic.com📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.
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46:43
The Future of AI Shopping Agents: Welcome to Retailgentic
Welcome to the very first episode of the Retailgentic Podcast, your guide to the fast-emerging world where AI agents meet retail and e-commerce.In this foundational episode, host Scot Wingo lays out:Why AI shopping agents may be even more disruptive than marketplacesWhat “agentic commerce” actually means (and what doesn’t count)Who the major players are today — and who’s coming nextThe three phases of the shopping journey: Research → Find → BuyWhat brands and retailers need to consider: Embrace or block?The emerging payment protocols and agentic frameworksKey predictions about Apple, Meta, Stripe, and the Chinese playersWhy loyalty, personalization, and strategy are all about to be rewrittenWhether you’re a retailer, brand exec, investor, or just AI-curious, this episode sets the stage for everything to come.📰 Subscribe to the free Substack: retailgentic.ai📺 Watch episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@retailgentic🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, Apple, etc.
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