Playbook for the Future of eCommerce

But First…Cool, if Real

Drop the entire Milky Way Galaxy onto your desk:

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Becoming Dauntless

OpenAI just added in-chat shopping to ChatGPT for Etsy. Shopify integration is next. Which is why this week on the Dauntless podcast couldn’t have come at a better time. We spoke to Elaine Kwon, the co-founder of Kwontified on how AI is changing retail and e-commerce.

She shared her frontline POV on how artificial intelligence is upending retail. Our conversation offered both a wake-up call and a practical roadmap for brands looking to thrive in a post-AI market. Here are the highlights:

1. Agentic Commerce is the New Storefront. Elaine explained the rise of “agentic commerce” we see taking root now, where AI agents recommend products and can complete purchases on behalf of consumers. With tools like ChatGPT’s instant checkout and the integration of AI-driven shopping experiences on platforms like Etsy (and soon, Shopify), AI bypasses the traditional path to purchase. Instead of carefully curated websites and brand touchpoints, the buying journey increasingly starts and ends inside AI-powered chat interfaces.

2. From SEO to GEO. With AI agents in the driver’s seat, retail must endure a pivot from classic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Instead of just optimizing for Google, brands now must ensure their data, including product specs, descriptions, care instructions, ingredients, and more, is clean, structured, and readable by AI tools. Messy or incomplete data makes products invisible to AI, effectively erasing them from the new digital shelf.

3. Personalized Shopping: Proceed with Caution. With great AI power comes great responsibility. AI provides retailers the means to execute personalized advertising to the point where you, yourself, appear in the ad. While potentially creepy, this is harmless (providing you opted into that sort of thing). More icky applications of AI: personalized dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing in this context means retailers could use AI to change the price of items based on the shopper. This is not something Elaine recommends any retailer do, as that instantly erodes consumer trust. And trust is a form of currency in e-commerce. Her advice: use AI to personalize content and streamline operations, and the un-sexy back-of-house operations first.

How can brands prepare for the changing rules of retail? Elaine offers a two-pronged approach:

1. Technical Readiness:

   1. Embrace GEO: Audit and clean up product data. Ensure every detail is accurate, up-to-date, and structured for easy consumption by AI agents. 

   2. Leverage AI Internally: Use AI for supply chain optimization, predictive inventory modeling, and automating repetitive tasks like product listing creation.

2. Creative & Human Experience Moat:

   1. Double Down on Brand Experience: With AI mediating more transactions, the in-person or “owned” digital experience becomes a premium opportunity for storytelling, community-building, and loyalty.

   2. Use Friction Strategically: Brands like Costco use “friction” (membership requirements, exclusive deals) as part of their value proposition. In an AI-driven world, intentional friction can reinforce brand loyalty and create memorable experiences. 

   3. Build Community and Trust: As AI-generated content floods digital channels, authentic brand values and community engagement become powerful differentiators.

Curious? Intrigued? Nervous? 🎧 Click through to watch/listen to the episode and connect with Elaine.

Tech News to Make You Smarter

• Were our 2025 Predictions for AR/VR Correct? (AR Insider). The proliferation of mixed reality (sort of), the rise of see-through screens (sort of), visual search (sort of), and one headset to rule them all (no). No solid wins, but many mostly rights, or on track to be right eventually.

• Dell Released the GB10 Last Week. This might be the inflection point that brings AI to the developers, right at their desks. The Grace Blackwell 10 (GB10) is the baby of the Blackwell line. Why would anyone want to digitally homestead and run AI locally? Because it saves money, and you can use it to make money. Plus, you get enhanced privacy, cost savings by avoiding API fees and tokens, and offline accessibility without internet dependence. It also provides full control over the model and can offer lower latency by avoiding a round-trip to the cloud. Let me know if we should do a deep dive on who needs to run AI locally.

• Samsung Introduces Galaxy XR, Its First Device on Android XR (Remix Reality). This is the Android dupe of the Apple Vision Pro. I’d be more excited if this had come out when Vision Pro did, as it’s cheaper ($1800), and more comfortable to wear, and would have spurred some healthy competition.

Saved on Socials

The posts, memes, job postings, and videos that caught my attention this week:

• Weekly Jobs in XR, Experiential & Social Tech ( Andy Fidel ✨ on LinkedIn)

• Slack-O-Lantern (Instagram)

Recently Played >

What we listened to this week

• Le Heist (Spotify). Catherine Porter, a New York Times international correspondent in the French capital, explains how the Louvre robbery unfolded. There’s no way there isn’t already a Netflix movie deal in the works.

Overheard on Slack

Enter the chat. What our devs are talking about…

• “Omfg y'all...I just spent 10 minutes trying to figure out a weird glitch that I was seeing in Flight Deck just to realize that I was staring at a thumbtack that was stuck in my wall.” - XR Developer Problems

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📸 This is real!! The Cosmic XR app by Yoon Park is available on the Meta Quest Store. Want more XR from outer space? Check out Aura for Space Data next.