Mani Fazeli, VP of Product at Shopify, joins the show to explore how agentic commerce is fundamentally transforming retail. From Sidekick's co-founder capabilities to Sim Gym's buyer simulations, Shopify is democratizing enterprise-level AI tools for merchants of all sizes. The conversation reveals why friction isn't always the enemy, how discovery is evolving beyond blue links, and why structured data is the new SEO.

• Discovery has evolved from a one-shot search to multi-turn conversations
• Friction has value: Some purchases deserve complexity, others need speed
• Structured data becomes critical for agentic commerce success
• [00:32:56] "Let's make special what's actually worth being special. And then let's be okay with the fact that the rest of it gets streamlined."
• [00:49:57] "Structured data becomes the new SEO. Every brand is going to have to worry about whether they have clean, well-structured, and well-understandable schemas."
• [00:04:20] "Utility above being flashy. Go right for the heart of what makes a difference in the merchant's life every single day."
• [00:33:39] "Until these systems become emotion aware, it's highly unlikely that they are completely eradicating the entire idea of manual human intervention in commerce."

• Shopify Winter '26 Editions

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A quarter of Gen Z and Millennial consumers now trust AI recommendations more than human ones, marking the arrival of retail's first post-human interface. Sharon Gee, VP of Product at Commerce, joins us to explore the paradox of digital intimacy: why consumers will bare their souls to ChatGPT about shopping needs yet abandon carts when brands ask them to create accounts, how LLMs are becoming intimate commerce companions, and what this means for the collapse of traditional commerce funnels and brand discovery in an AI-mediated world.

• 27% of millennials trust AI recommendations more than humans, yet abandon carts when forced to create accounts: the trust paradox.
• Merchants must shift from channel management to model management: optimizing for how AI interprets your brand, not controlling distribution.
• Answer engine optimization isn't gaming algorithms. It's ensuring your brand shows up with authority when AI agents search on behalf of consumers.
• Three-party commerce is here: consumer, brand, and AI intermediary. The customer is the channel, and data is the new storefront.
• [00:01:42] "Our customers are having to shift their mindset from channel management to model management... The old game was distribution. The new game is intelligibility. And brands that win are gonna be the ones that understand the model and understand how they can adapt their message to the new modes of interacting with consumers." – Lindsay Trinkle
• [00:41:02] "Customers are the channel and the data is the storefront. And so what we need to be able to do is make sure that we understand at each interaction point when you show up with your brand. How is your data representing you?" – Sharon Gee

• New Modes Research: How AI is Shaping New Commerce Contexts and Expectations
• Learn more about Commerce
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Coach's SVP of Global Visual Experience Giovanni Zaccariello reveals how the brand transformed from heritage accessory house to Gen Z cultural force by treating retail as community infrastructure. From hospitality-infused Coach Play stores to strategically sustainable holiday displays, the conversation explores how physical experience became Coach's competitive advantage in an increasingly digital marketplace.

• Gen Z seeks human connection and community, not just product transactions
• Coach studied consumers in their homes to understand life, not just buying behaviors
• Experience per square foot matters as much as sales per square foot
• Using the same holiday tree for five years reduced waste while building brand consistency
• Physical and digital spaces should converge, not replicate each other
• "Putting bags on shelves was no longer an option because everybody during the pandemic, including my mom who is 89, can buy online. They're coming to the stores and they want more." - Giovanni Zaccariello [00:06:37]
• "The next few years are going to be years of what I call experience maximalism where literally new things are going to be mundane because consumers are so much more connected now on social, and they see what's going on." - Giovanni Zaccariello [00:44:50]
• "It's about the consumer talking to us instead of Coach talking to the consumer. It's a much deeper dialogue." - Giovanni Zaccariello [00:45:46]
• "When things don't work, we don't just move on. We've created this honest feedback loop where we learn from things. If we don't learn, what's the point of testing and learning?" - Giovanni Zaccariello [00:41:17]

• Explore Coach Play concepts
• Coach coffee shops
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Black Friday naysayers have been predicting its demise for years, but Adyen's Holly Worst has data proving the shopping holiday is far from dead—it's gone global. From Denmark's 6.1X surge to America's mobile wallet awakening, this year's numbers tell a story of transformation, not decline. The real shift? How we pay, when we shop, and why contactless finally caught on in the US.

• Black Friday generated $43B globally with 837M transactions across Adyen's platform
• US contactless payments jumped 23% YOY and mobile wallet usage doubled to 30%
• Denmark saw a 6.1X increase in transaction volume on Black Friday, and Spain 4.5X—Black Friday is officially a global phenomenon
• Peak shopping hit at 1 pm in-store and noon online (digestion first, deals second)
• 46% of US consumers abandon checkout without their preferred payment method

• Check out Adyen’s BFCM data here
• See our full recap of BFCM results
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The traditional linear shopping journey has collapsed. Commerce now happens everywhere, and consumers are navigating this omnimodal reality with unprecedented fluidity.

Phillip Jackson and Lindsay Trinkle sit down with Melissa Minkow, Global Director of Retail Strategy and Insights at CI&T, to unpack findings from her Retail Tech Reality Check research. Together, they dissect how different platforms serve distinct purposes in the buyer's journey, why "omnichannel" is more relevant than ever, and what happens when everything becomes shoppable but commerce itself becomes invisible.

In this episode, we explore how the expanded digital ecosystem is fundamentally reprogramming how consumers engage with content, community, and commerce. With 74% of US consumers now using AI tools in their path to purchase, brands can no longer control the narrative—instead, they must embed themselves intentionally into customer-led conversations across multiple contexts.

• Each social platform serves a distinct purpose: Facebook for purchasing, YouTube for discovery, Reddit for research. Context matters more than channel ubiquity.
• The invisible transaction wins: TikTok succeeds because it's entertainment-first. The less commerce feels like commerce, the more consumers buy.
• Attribution is broken: Traditional linear models can't capture circular, contextual journeys. Focus on conversion, repeat purchase, and brand awareness—the only metrics you can trust.
• Search remains unsolved: Basic functionality like filtering furniture by dimensions is still missing. Data quality and search methodology are foundational competitive advantages.
• Micro-influencers drive outsized impact: 45 passionate referrals matter more than 45,000 followers. The persona of the referrer (picky, experimental, passionate) outweighs reach.
• AI will reshape holiday 2025: Gifting anxiety makes AI particularly valuable. Consumers use it to avoid looking stupid and navigate uncertain return processes.

• Melissa Minkow - Global Director of Retail Strategy and Insights, CI&T
• CI&T Retail Tech Reality Check Research
• New Modes Research

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It’s a Black Friday special! Phillip and Brian explore how capitalism commercializes everything it touches, as exemplified beautifully by community-driven Buy Nothing groups facing trademark enforcement and Walmart's WhoKnewVille campaign, which misses the point of Dr. Seuss entirely. They examine Mariah Carey's evolution from background music to Sephora partner, the disturbing rise of skincare for toddlers, and why new media's infinitesimally short news cycles are reshaping how we consume culture itself.

PLUS: Get Plus! Use code BLACKFRIDAY for a year of Future Commerce Plus at our lowest rate ever.

• Buy Nothing chooses to wage its trademark battle during the SNAP benefits pause.
• As long as digital channels and Kris Jenner continue to thrive, Black Friday will never die.
• Mariah Carey’s “It’s Time” video is sponsored by Sephora. Finally!
• The new media ecosystem demands we live in the immediacy of the moment. Media cycle half-lives grow shorter by the day.
• “Mel Gibson was for Boomers what Johnny Depp was for Gen X, and I get the same feeling about Timothee Chalamet for this generation.” –– Brian Lange
• “Any gift you give or receive is actually a flaming fireball in the sky of your identity.” –– Brian Lange
• “Let he who is without screen time cast the first stone.” –– Phillip Jackson
• “Buy Nothing groups disintermediate the knife fight.” –– Phillip Jackson, Craigslist knife fight survivor

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Nearly half of all consumers now live in a state of perpetual purchase consideration, maintaining mental shopping lists that are never truly empty. With access to new sources of information and inspiration, they're constantly thinking about what they're going to buy next.

But what happens when commerce isn't just something you do; it's something that you are?

We kick off season 5 of Decoded with behavioral scientist and customer experience expert Ken Hughes, who joins us in exploring how shopping has evolved from an activity into an identity, particularly among Gen Z and Millennials. We unpack Ken’s “Blue Dot Consumer” theory and introduce the "Shopping Consciousness Spectrum," and examine how it influences not just how we live as individuals, but how we operate as brands.

• 48% of consumers maintain perpetual mental shopping lists; for millennials, it's 2 in 3. Commerce has become a cognitive state.
• Gen Z is twice as likely as Boomers to wake with commerce on their minds: Different generations, fundamentally different relationships.
• The trust paradox: consumers share intimate details with AI but abandon carts when asked to create accounts or commit.
• 2026 success requires understanding perpetual consideration. Be present throughout the journey, not just during traditional shopping windows.

• Ken Hughes - Customer Experience Expert & Behavioral Science Specialist
• Get Taylormaking by Ken Hughes
• New Modes Research: How AI is Shaping New Commerce Contexts and Expectations
• Learn more about Commerce

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Most marketing teams believe AI will revolutionize their work, yet few experience true transformation. Shai Frank from Optimove discusses new research revealing why organizational readiness—not technology—creates the widest gap between expectation and reality. The conversation explores how change management, experimentation mindsets, and vendor partnerships can help marketers move from incremental improvements to transformative results.

• 80% of companies expect AI transformation; only 18% achieve transformative results in marketing
• Change management matters more than technology capability for successful AI adoption
• Experimentation and rapid iteration beat planning perfection
• New metrics and performance indicators are needed to measure AI optimization benefits
• Vendor education and partnership bridge talent gaps without the need to hire data scientists
• "The real gap is change management. Most teams are still running on old rhythms that make transformation feel hard or impossible." - Shai Frank [00:07:35]
• "Instead of trying to perfect the post-purchase journey for eight months, let's try a few options, see what works, and course correct as a result of that." - Shai Frank [00:17:39]
• "The challenge now is making sure that every customer is served with the right content variation that makes sense for them." - Shai Frank [00:38:01]
• "In this case, it was like an 80% optimization benefit, which means 80% of your incremental sales from this campaign are because you did it with AI." - Shai Frank [00:46:24]

• Optimove + Forrester Report
• Learn more about Optimove’s Positionless Marketing platform
• Decoded Season 4: Positionless Marketing

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Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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