As agentic AI evolves from assisting customers to acting on their behalf, retailers face a fundamental question: are we entering a new era where AI agents become the primary interface between brands and consumers? This Oxford-style debate challenges two opposing views on whether agentic AI will fundamentally reshape the retail experience or whether its impact is being overstated. 

With AI agents increasingly shaping discovery and purchase paths - transforming search into proactive recommendation engines - brands that optimise content for agentic commerce now will be best positioned to influence buyer decisions this peak trading period.   

• How can you adapt your content strategy to ensure your products are visible to AI agents as trusted answers not just indexed results?
• How can adopting AEO principles now help safeguard organic traffic and reduce overreliance on paid channels in the age of agentic commerce?
• How can teams prepare for conversational commerce as the new entry point? And what does that mean for brand tone, context and UX?
• How will agentic AI transform your digital shelf strategy with a need to now optimise for AEO?