Why AI agents are replacing the search bar | 2026 Commerce Trends

Hosted byHannah Donoghue•January 16, 2026

AI agents are replacing the search bar as the starting point for product discovery, and brands that aren't optimized to show up in AI-generated answers will fall behind. In this video from Flywheel's 2026 Commerce Trends report, Hannah Donoghue, Doug Koontz, Mike O'Donnell, and Austin Seibert break down the most disruptive shift in eCommerce since mobile: agentic commerce. Shoppers are turning to AI agents and chatbots to start their journey, not traditional search. These experiences are becoming fully shoppable, with direct add-to-cart, multi-item checkout, and a dramatically shorter path from intent to purchase. ChatGPT is on track to become a top-10 eCommerce retailer by 2030, Walmart is deepening its OpenAI partnership, and Amazon faces growing pressure to open its walled garden to AI agents in new ways. The shift is happening now. If your brand can't meet consumers where they are, you're already losing ground. In this video, you'll learn:

  • How agentic commerce is collapsing the traditional purchase funnel

  • Where retailers are placing their bets: AI partnerships and conversational commerce tools

  • How sponsored ads will emerge inside LLM-powered shopping flows

  • What structured product data, clean feeds, and answer-ready content mean for discoverability

  • Why zero-click discovery matters when AI agents assemble shortlists without sending shoppers to search

If AI is the aisle, your product has to show up in the answer. Watch the full video to understand what this shift means and how to prepare your brand.

Hannah Donoghue

SVP, Consulting

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