AI-First Shopping Is Changing the Rules of Visibility

Product Discovery Becomes Conversational

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way people search for, compare, and purchase products. Virtual assistants and advanced language models offer personalised recommendations, reduce search friction, and condense the buying journey into just a few interactions. AI-powered shopping searches driven by generative AI have grown by 4.7% in a single year: a figure that marks a turning point in consumer behaviour and opens up unprecedented scenarios for brands and retailers. (BoF & McKinsey, 2025)

AI Agents: From Assistants to Intermediaries

The next step is called agentic commerce. Autonomous agents capable of acting on behalf of consumers: searching, comparing, selecting, and even purchasing. AI no longer simply makes suggestions — it becomes a true intermediary, playing a role similar to that of retailers and marketplaces. Although the phenomenon is still in its early stages, estimates indicate that autonomous commerce could account for between 11% and 18% of the B2C retail market by 2030. (BoF & McKinsey, 2025)

For brands, the consequence is direct: if an AI agent cannot find, interpret, or recommend their products, those products simply do not exist within the new purchasing journey.

How to Be Found by Artificial Intelligence

To exist within this new purchasing journey, brands with an eCommerce presence must rethink their digital infrastructure to ensure it is readable by AI.

Structuring product content with appropriate formatting and markup, adopting protocols that allow agents to extract information and perform actions, and monitoring third-party content — which accounts for approximately 80% of the sources used by AI — are now concrete priorities. (BoF & McKinsey, 2025)

SEO remains essential, but it must be complemented by a visibility strategy within conversational ecosystems. Marketing budgets must treat these environments as a new channel, with dedicated rules and investments. Those who fail to adapt risk disappearing at the very moment the consumer is searching.

Highstreet.io: Ready for AI Commerce

Highstreet.io, part of the Impresoft Univerce ecosystem, already offers the tools to navigate this transition. Through its AI Enrichment service, product feeds become richer, more complete, and semantically optimised, written in natural language: the foundation upon which AI agents build their responses. Highstreet.io also integrates with the new AI search engines, enabling artificial intelligence to read, interpret, and recommend brand products. New engines mean new feeds, new logic, and new opportunities for those who are ready to seize them.

Bibliography:
The Business of Fashion & McKinsey & Company. (2025). The state of fashion 2026. https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/technology/the-state-of-fashion-2026-report-agentic-generative-ai-shopping-commerce/