From storefronts to systems: Why retailers have a new AI problem

For two decades, retailers have obsessed over their websites. Optimising homepages. Improving checkout. Chasing higher conversion rates.

But according to Commerce chief executive Travis Hess, the biggest shift in ecommerce today isn't happening on the storefront at all. It's happening behind it.

As AI reshapes the way consumers discover products, Hess argues the next battleground won't be who has the best website. It will be who is most visible inside an increasingly fragmented ecosystem of AI assistants, marketplaces and digital platforms.

"The storefront is no longer the centre of gravity," Hess told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE on a recent trip to Sydney.

"For a long time, commerce was storefront-centric. Today it's becoming system-centric."

That shift is being driven by the rapid rise of AI-powered discovery. Rather than beginning their shopping journey on a retailer's website or through a traditional search engine, consumers are increasingly turning to tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to recommend products, compare prices and surface the most relevant options.

For retailers, that changes everything.

"The question isn't just, 'How do I optimise my website anymore?'" Hess said. "It's, 'How do I make sure I'm discoverable wherever customers choose to shop?'"

An invisibility problem

For Hess, the biggest risk facing brands isn't AI replacing ecommerce, it's invisibility. As discovery fragments across large language models, social platforms, marketplaces and emerging commerce experiences, retailers can no longer rely on a single digital front door.

"The invisibility problem is the challenge," he said. "Brands have spent years thinking about driving traffic to their website. Now they have to think about whether AI even knows they exist."

That means the competitive advantage is shifting away from websites and towards the quality of the data sitting behind them.

Rather than simply publishing product information once, retailers need structured, enriched and constantly updated product data capable of being understood across multiple platforms simultaneously.

"The website becomes one surface," Hess said. "The intelligence layer underneath it becomes much more valuable."

Why data suddenly matters more

That intelligence layer extends far beyond product descriptions. Inventory, availability, pricing, product attributes and customer information increasingly determine whether an AI assistant recommends one brand over another.

"If I'm asking an AI assistant where I can buy something today, it has to know whether it's actually available," Hess said.

"If that recommendation is wrong, customers lose trust."

Maintaining accurate, real-time information across multiple channels is becoming one of retail's biggest operational challenges as AI-generated shopping journeys become more common.

It's also forcing retailers to think differently about where value is created.

"The value in commerce is accruing in different places," Hess said.

"Historically we controlled the storefront. Now we need to participate wherever customers are."

Don't become dependent

While AI platforms promise new opportunities, Hess believes retailers should resist becoming overly dependent on any single ecosystem. Instead, brands need enough flexibility to appear across multiple AI assistants, marketplaces and commerce channels without losing control of their own customer intelligence.

"You don't want to bet your business on one platform," he said.

"The merchants who win will be the ones that maintain control over their own data while being able to participate everywhere."

It's a philosophy Hess describes as maintaining merchant sovereignty, ensuring retailers own the intelligence behind their business even as customer journeys continue to evolve.

Trust still belongs to brands

As AI takes on a larger role in shopping decisions, Hess believes responsibility will continue to rest with retailers rather than technology providers.

"If an AI recommends the wrong product or creates a poor experience, customers won't blame the AI," he said. "They'll blame the brand."

That places increasing importance on governance, transparency and ensuring AI recommendations remain grounded in accurate, trustworthy information.

For Hess, AI isn't replacing customer experience. It's raising the stakes.

"The experience still belongs to the merchant."

Curiosity becomes a competitive advantage

All these changes, he says, are contributing to a reshaped leadership team. He said one recent conversation with a recruitment firm stood out. Rather than technical expertise, one of the most sought-after traits among senior technology leaders had become something much simpler. Curiosity.

"The number one criterion they're looking for is how inquisitive somebody is," he said. "They're looking for people who are willing to learn, experiment and adapt."

And this is perhaps the biggest lesson of all. Retailers don't need to predict exactly how AI-powered commerce will evolve. But they do need to accept that the era of treating the website as the centre of the digital universe is coming to an end. 

The next generation of commerce, he argues, won't be won on the storefront. It will be won by the systems working quietly behind it.