Artificial intelligence is reshaping retail – not just in customer service but across the entire shopping journey. From intelligent assistants to backend automation, new technology is transforming not just how customers shop, but how businesses respond, scale, and impress. We’re entering an era where AI shopping agents, intelligent systems that can search, compare, and even add to cart on behalf of users, are set to reshape the customer journey long before a human gets involved.
The key shift? AI is transforming how brands communicate with customers at every stage, from discovery and decision to delivery. Retailers must now adapt quickly while keeping experience, trust, and transparency front and center.
From transaction to transformation: AI’s expanding role in retail
Traditionally, AI in retail has been synonymous with personalization or recommendation engines. Today, its footprint is broader and deeper. AI is actively participating in the customer journey: surfacing products, offering support, handling logistics, and in some cases, completing transactions independently.
These touchpoints are becoming critical communication moments where the customer's trust is either built or lost.
Take conversational agents, for example. Once relegated to simple FAQs, they now facilitate high-value interactions by blending messaging, automation, and intelligence to drive outcomes. Adoption is accelerating fast: according to Gartner, 73 percent of customer service organizations will implement agent-assist AI by the end of 2025, with self-service and live chat now overtaking phone and email as the dominant support channels.
The next frontier? Agentic AI: systems like OpenAI’s GPT agents or Google’s Gemini that act on customer intent instead of just interpreting it.
These systems are capable of understanding context, evaluating options across data sources, and executing tasks, from comparing products to tracking shipments to resolving post-purchase issues. In effect, they’re becoming the first “employee” that the customer interacts with.
At Sinch, our data on the trends shaping the 2025 holiday shopping season reveals that AI is gaining traction as a trusted companion, with just under half of respondents agreeing that AI will make their holiday shopping easier.
Even more striking: just under half of respondents trust AI-powered recommendations as much or more than suggestions from a human.
This shows a shift in perception as AI is becoming a trusted tool for real-life moments. But trust isn’t built on automation alone and requires consistent communication. This is especially important in the context of AI agents, where AI systems act on a customer’s behalf. For organizations, this means every automated interaction must feel as thoughtful and transparent as a human one.
Delivering on this, especially at scale, requires brands to adapt their infrastructure behind the scenes. For AI to be effective, companies are going to have to use Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to reach new heights in customer service.
The importance of MCPs
AI systems, no matter how advanced, are only as effective as the data they can plug into. MCP is an open standard that allows large language models to connect to external systems. Using this protocol, AI can tap into real-time inventory systems, customer support tools, messaging APIs and more without requiring custom integrations for every new platform.
For retailers, this could be transformative. An MCP-enabled AI agent can:
- Check stock availability before suggesting a product
- Provide verified shipping updates across carriers
- Engage customers on their preferred messaging channels
- Personalize experiences in context - not just based on past data, but real-time signal
And critically, it allows brands to maintain control over what the AI can access and how it responds.
During high-volume periods like Black Friday, that matters. An MCP-backed agent could fetch the exact status from a logistics partner, deliver it via WhatsApp, and escalate a situation to a human if needed. This promises increased operational efficiency as well as proactivity that reassures customers, answers their questions and earns their trust.
Human connection is still the differentiator
As AI agents move from passive assistants to active representatives, their impact on customer experience will become more significant. These systems no longer operate as reactive tools but instead they’re proactively participating in commerce, capable of making decisions, handling transactions, and even representing brand voice.
In this new environment, the human connection becomes even more valuable. Customers want the speed and ease AI provides, but they also want the option to escalate, to ask questions and feel understood. It is apparent human connection is still what resolves doubt and builds loyalty.
That’s why the strategic imperative is clear: retailers must design for AI-first interactions, not simply retrofit their existing systems to accommodate them.
So, what does “AI-first” really mean in practice? This involves:
- Structuring product catalogs for machine readability
- Building messaging journeys that include both automation and escalation paths
- Implementing verification layers to ensure transparent, compliant AI use
- Ensuring opt-ins are clear, and human support is always accessible
As AI gets smarter, the human element remains vital. Nearly half of the people we spoke to still express unease around AI in important moments like returns, payments or post-purchase issues.
The hesitation doesn’t stem from capability but instead from confidence, and the fact that how it all works is largely unknown at this point.
Customers still want to know that when something really matters, a human is still there.
The bottom line
As AI agents take on increasingly visible roles, acting as frontline “shoppers” and customer-facing representatives, retailers must ensure every interaction is fast, accurate, and transparent.
This shift demands a machine-first design approach, where product catalogs, messaging workflows, and customer journeys are optimized not just for human navigation, but for AI comprehension and real-time responsiveness. However, that must go hand in hand with communication strategies that reinforce trust and offer a clear path to human support when it’s needed the most.
Excelling in this environment means designing experiences that are fast, but not rushed; personalized, but not invasive; intelligent and always accountable. The goal is to earn and sustain the trust of customers, so AI extends the brand promise, and doesn’t compromise it.
Technology alone isn’t enough. As the element of trust continues to play a key role, brands that fail to act risk falling behind. Now is the time for retailers to reimagine their strategy through an AI-first lens, designing systems that are not only intelligent but also trustworthy, transparent, and human-aware.
Quick links
- AI governance: A CX leader's guide to responsible AI implementation
- 6 Omnichannel strategies that actually increase engagement
- Three ways the great NPS debate rages on