Navigate the future of retail and ecommerce in AIstify’s Retail & Ecommerce section. From global retailers and marketplaces to direct-to-consumer brands and commerce platforms, we track how AI is reshaping how products are sold, marketed, and delivered. Coverage spans news, real-world deployments, deals, and policy developments influencing how AI is adopted across digital and physical retail. We focus on personalization, demand forecasting, pricing optimization, inventory management, and AI-powered customer support, alongside operational and regulatory shifts affecting merchants at scale. Our explainers and roundups turn fast-moving updates into clear takeaways on what’s changing, why it matters now, and how AI is redefining growth, efficiency, and competition in retail.
OpenAI has overhauled ChatGPT’s shopping features, focusing on product discovery after scaling back its Instant Checkout initiative. The update introduces visual browsing and merchant integrations.
Contra unveiled Contra Payments, a new platform enabling creatives to sell products and services directly to both humans and AI agents, marking a shift toward “agentic commerce.”
Google introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard for agentic commerce, enabling AI-driven shopping, checkout, and branded agent interactions across retailers and platforms.
PayPal and Microsoft are integrating checkout and payments directly into Copilot, allowing users to discover products and complete purchases without leaving the AI interface. The rollout begins on Copilot.com and expands PayPal’s agentic commerce strategy.
Beyond major product launches, CES 2026 is highlighting a wave of unconventional AI-powered devices, from holographic assistants to robotic pets and smart kitchen tools. The gadgets reflect how artificial intelligence is moving into niche consumer applications.
OpenAI released a new version of ChatGPT Images powered by a flagship image generation model that delivers faster output and more precise edits. The update also introduces a dedicated Images workspace and a lower-cost API offering, GPT Image 1.5.
Amazon’s AI shopping assistant Rufus saw a sharp spike in Black Friday usage, fueling significantly higher purchase-conversion rates compared with non-AI sessions, according to new data from Sensor Tower and Adobe Analytics.
Amazon employees demand ethical AI practices, warning that the company’s fast-paced AI rollout risks worker safety, democratic oversight, and environmental sustainability.
Amazon’s latest layoffs hit engineering and product roles hardest as the company restructures and redirects resources toward artificial intelligence.
Target is deepening its partnership with OpenAI through a new ChatGPT shopping app and broader enterprise use of frontier models to streamline operations and improve guest experiences.