Briefings · No. 01 · Retail · · 36 pages

Cover of The Last Store Standing

The Last Store Standing

How AI will reshape retail, destroy old advantages and create new winners.

Analysis by John Horsley, Co-founder, Business Of. Editorial and research with Linus Gregoriadis, Director and Co-founder, London Research.

36 pages · Six parts · Four interviews

Request the full briefing → Read the preview ↓
Share
Preview

What just happened to the retailer?

Imagine this prompt

I need a quiet, integrated dishwasher under £700. It’s for an open-plan kitchen, so noise matters. Reliability is more important than having lots of programmes. I want a five-year warranty, and I need it delivered before Saturday.

The AI doesn’t return a search box. It interprets the requirement. It investigates the market. It considers specifications, expert reviews, customer reviews, price, warranty, availability and delivery options. It reduces potentially thousands of products across multiple retailers to a short list of three.

Eventually, it may simply buy one.

For 25 years, ecommerce has operated around an assumption so fundamental that we barely notice it: the customer comes to you.

They visit your website. They search your catalogue. They apply your filters. They read your product pages, compare your items, add to your basket and navigate your checkout.

AI potentially removes the human from much of that process. Lindsay Boyajian Hagan, Vice President of Marketing and Co-Head of Revenue at Conductor, described the change to me starkly:

“In this new world, AI is owning so much more of that customer journey.”
Lindsay Boyajian HaganConductor Listen to the episode →

The evidence is already appearing in the data. Adobe reports that AI-originated retail traffic is growing rapidly, while OpenAI, Google, Amazon and Walmart are moving agentic shopping interfaces out of the lab and into real commerce.

The customer doesn’t necessarily disappear. But the retailer loses the right to assume the customer will begin their journey on its website.

The preview ends here. The full briefing runs to 36 pages.

Inside the briefing

  1. Part one
    150 Years of Disappearing FrictionWe Digitised the Store. We Didn’t Reinvent Shopping.
  2. Part two
    From Navigation to SpecificationThe Temporary Department Store
  3. Part three
    The Uncomfortable Truth About 500,000 SKUsThe Power of Knowledge · From SEO to Being a Source
  4. Part four
    Recommended or InvisibleMachines Shop Differently · The Agentic Maturity Curve · The Agentic Commerce Disruption Matrix
  5. Part five
    The Website Doesn’t Die. Its Job Changes.What Happens to Retail Media? · What If We’re Wrong?
  6. Part six
    The Five Layers of Retail AdvantageThe Last Store Standing Test

Built from these conversations

  1. Dimi AlbersCEO, DEPT® Listen to the episode →
  2. Lindsay Boyajian HaganVice President of Marketing and Co-Head of Revenue, Conductor Listen to the episode →
  3. Martin KihnSenior Vice President of Strategy, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Listen to the episode →
  4. Matt ConlinFounder and Chief Customer Officer, Fluent Listen to the episode →
Share
The central question for any retail board today

“What do you own that remains valuable after somebody else owns the interface?”

Request the full briefing

Read The Last Store Standing in full.

36 pages · Six parts · Four interviews

We share the full briefing with senior leaders on request. Tell us who you are and we’ll send it to you.

Related analysis

All Intelligence →
A macro photograph of a synchronized industrial gauge and valve stack, representing the transition from informal AI use to a sanctioned, governance-grade architecture. Issue No. 07 · AI Governance The Governance Gap Why the marketing organisation deploying agents without a signed governance architecture is running a brand-safety liability the board has not yet seen. High-contrast architectural photograph of a curving white structural grid ceiling, serving as a visual metaphor for the recommendation surface and choice networks inside generative AI answers. Issue No. 13 · Discovery When ChatGPT Recommends Your Competitor Why the marketing organisation not yet auditing its presence inside AI answers is letting competitors set the buyer's shortlist before any salesperson speaks. Abstract digital illustration of a structured network grid of thin glowing blue lines dissolving into a fluid wave of synthesised light particles, representing the transition from traditional search engines to generative AI discovery. Issue No. 12 · Discovery Search Is Over Why the marketing organisation still optimising for the blue link is funding only half of how buyers now find brands.