Retailers are beginning to adapt their digital strategies as artificial intelligence agents start to influence how customers search for products online.
UK retailer John Lewis has announced that it is increasing its investment in content creation after seeing a rise in product searches coming from AI agents. The report noted that searches from AI agents now account for 2.5% of John Lewis product searches, up from 0.3% a year ago.
The numbers are still relatively small, but the trend points to a wider change in how consumers may discover products, compare options and make buying decisions.
For years, businesses have focused on search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces as the main routes to digital discovery. AI agents are now starting to add another layer to that journey. Instead of customers searching manually through websites or typing keywords into search engines, AI tools can help them ask broader questions, compare options and narrow down choices.
That shift has implications for how businesses present information online.
Product descriptions, service pages, pricing details, availability, reviews, policies and supporting content may all become more important in an AI-assisted buying journey. If an AI agent is helping a customer decide what to buy, the agent needs clear, accurate and accessible information to work with.
AI agents are starting to influence the way people find and interact with businesses. This means organisations need to think about the quality of their information, the structure of their digital processes and the systems that sit behind the customer experience.
The growing role of AI agents in retail also shows that AI adoption is not limited to internal productivity. While many companies have focused on using AI to draft documents, summarise information or support employees, agentic AI is beginning to shape external business interactions as well.
In practice, this could affect how customers search for insurance products, compare banking services, choose suppliers, book appointments, request quotes or evaluate professional services. In each case, the customer may increasingly rely on an AI tool to interpret information before making contact with the business.
This creates both an opportunity and a challenge
- The opportunity is that businesses with clear, accurate and well-structured information may be easier for AI systems to understand and recommend. The challenge is that organisations with fragmented information, outdated content or disconnected systems may struggle to appear clearly in these new customer journeys.
- But the issue is not only about marketing content – it also connects to operations. An AI-assisted customer journey depends on the information a business can provide and the processes that support that information. Product availability, service details, customer support workflows, pricing rules, fulfilment, documentation and internal approvals all contribute to the experience.
If these processes are unclear or disconnected, AI agents may expose those gaps more quickly.
At 1ai, we see this as part of a broader movement towards more connected digital operations. AI agents are beginning to sit between customers and companies, helping people navigate information and make decisions. Businesses will need to respond by making their own information and workflows easier to access, understand and act on.
This does not mean every company needs to rebuild its digital strategy overnight. It does mean that businesses should start paying closer attention to the way their information is organised.
For many organisations, the practical starting point is to review where important business information lives, how often it is updated, and whether it is consistent across channels. From there, companies can look at how automation and AI can help manage information, support customer journeys and reduce manual work behind the scenes.
The rise of AI agents in retail is still developing, but the direction is clear. Customers are beginning to use AI as part of the discovery process, and businesses will need to understand how that changes the way they are found, evaluated and chosen.
For companies looking at the next stage of digital transformation, the message is simple: AI agents are not only changing how work happens inside the business. They are also starting to change how customers reach the business in the first place.
