The Next Big Thing (Again) Is Learning From The Last One

A few years ago, social commerce was the “next big thing” in retail. Social media platforms rushed to add “buy” buttons and in-app checkout, and marketers dreamed of “frictionless” shopping woven into every feed. But reality hit hard: Beyond a few regional hotspots, consumers largely didn’t flock to social commerce just because it was technically possible.

Similarly, today agentic commerce promises to (again) remake online shopping. Before diving in, take stock of four lessons that social commerce taught us to make wise decisions today:

  1. Show consumers the value to change their habits. To start, these consumers need to be the right customers, in the right place, and must want to shop in that place. “If you build it, they will come” isn’t true anymore: Consumers will buy because they perceive tangible value. Social media platforms learned that slapping a “Shop Now” feature on a feed wasn’t enough to convert buyers inside social media platforms.
  2. Get the customer experience right to get consumers to adopt — and stay. If the process feels weird, tedious, or untrustworthy, shoppers bounce. When companies launch experiences prematurely and present poor experiences, consumers may run out of patience to change their shopping habits. That makes it harder to earn adoption — even as the experience matures.
  3. Ensure the right channel and the right customer. For agentic commerce, the best first question is, “Are our target customers even there, in a buying mood?” Social commerce reinforced the old truth that it matters where you sell — and whether your customers actually want to shop there. Successful brands learned to chase the right channels — not every channel opportunity. Due to the prevalence of ads and influencers, social media platforms can shine as a discovery channel, they’re just not as strong as conversation or customer support channels.
  4. Foster trust in the channel — which carries through to commerce. If consumers don’t trust an answer engine (or the company that serves it), they’re not likely to trust it enough with their payment info to transact there. Per Forrester’s Global Government, Society, And Trust Survey, 2025, 62% of US online adults agree that they do not trust social media companies to protect users’ information, which extends to payment info. That number is comparable (60%) in Canada, and a bit lower (55%) in the UK, though arguably, regulations are stronger in that region.

For Agentic Commerce To Take Off, Channel Strategy Basics Benefit Brands And Channels Alike

The good news: Today’s digital commerce teams have lots of experience — and channel vendors will also benefit from steady and logical approaches. Here’s how:

  • Brands. Every day, retailers send product catalogs with pricing, descriptions, and inventory availability to Google Shopping, Facebook/Instagram/TikTok Shops, and other marketplaces. Many of the capabilities needed to make new channels work are things you’ve been doing for years. For example, remember drop-shipping fundamentals to guide your pricing and assortment strategies. As always, managing intentional, quality product data feeds (with inventory integrated!) is still vital to push products into digital channels.
  • Channels. The players who master the fundamentals can be the proverbial “slow and steady” winners in the long run. In this race, it just might be Google. OpenAI has rapidly moved from discovery to native checkout to apps (maybe) to Amazon partnerships and to having Walmart Sparky embedded into ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Google quietly leaned on its deep commerce experience. Like social channels such as Instagram, Google is very accustomed to receiving, processing, and displaying data in product feeds from merchants. In the agentic commerce era, this experience advantage could make Google a formidable contender.

What Should Digital Commerce Leaders Do Now?

Start with strategy. Don’t feel pressured to react immediately. Instead, wisely capitalize on new commerce innovations by:

  • Ensuring that there’s value ’ not just novelty ’ for customers in new experiences. New commerce channels must solve real customer needs. If they shorten the funnel and make it easier to find or purchase products, consumers are more likely to adopt.
  • Evaluating emerging channels around audience, costs, and risks. Be excited about new channels (whether social, conversational, or whatever comes next) but temper that excitement with healthy skepticism and a strong set of metrics to help you understand how they’re performing.
  • Going where your customers are. Double down on channels and touchpoints your shoppers truly use and want to shop in. Before investing, ensure that your target demographic is there — and is willing to shop there.
  • Controlling the controllables (especially in non-owned channels). Maintain accurate product feeds that are thoughtfully curated for the channel, with rich content, and current inventory for each channel. When selling through third-party environments (e.g., social platforms or answer engines), leverage every element you can control to ensure a positive customer experience.
  • Being patient and continually learning. Adopt a test-and-learn mindset. Encourage your teams to experiment on emerging platforms (in controlled ways), gather customer feedback, and iterate. Treat new channels as a long-term learning opportunity rather than a quick win. Manage expectations with stakeholders so they see these channels the same way. Remember that every shiny new channel will take time to mature, so don’t rush to judgment on early results.

To discuss this in more depth, please book a guidance session or inquiry with us to understand how you should be thinking about agentic commerce.