About this episode

The episode discusses OpenAI's withdrawal from its instant checkout experiment and its implications for agentic shopping and the future of retail media.

OpenAI has stepped back from its “instant checkout” experiment—raising a big question: is agentic shopping already over before it began? In this special news update, Viv and Colin – alongside Grace & Co's new AI expert Rob Isaacs – unpack what really happened, whether OpenAI misjudged the complexity of e-commerce, and what it means for retailers, AI search, and the future of retail media. Key Topics Covered: OpenAI’s withdrawal from instant checkout Why scaling across retailers is harder than expected The reality vs hype of “agentic shopping” Consumer behaviour: search vs full-funnel AI commerce Advertising strategies across AI platforms (OpenAI vs Perplexity vs Anthropic) What retail media networks should do next “They tried to conquer e-commerce in six months – something that took Google years.” “AI reinforces expertise – it doesn’t replace it.” “You have the products, you have the customers. That’s not going away.” “Everything loops back to closed-loop attribution.” Stay tuned for more episodes of Retail Media Therapy , where we unpack the biggest shifts in commerce, media, and AI. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…

People in this episode

Host: Grace & Co

Guests: Viv, Colin, Rob Isaacs

Topics covered

• OpenAI withdrawal
• agentic shopping
• e-commerce complexity
• consumer behavior
• AI commerce
• advertising strategies
• retail media networks

Keywords

• OpenAI
• agentic commerce
• e-commerce
• AI search
• retail media
• consumer behavior
• advertising strategies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OpenAI, Google, Perplexity, Anthropic

More episodes of Retail Media Therapy

• EP44 – Part2: Omnichannel success with Tesco Media's ex-strategist Florian Clemens · May 5, 2026 · 18 min
• EP42 – The Trade Desk Vs HoldCos beef; Airline Media; and how to get hired · April 21, 2026 · 23 min
• EP41 – Mark Williamson of Costco on the power of saying 'No' · April 7, 2026 · 28 min
• EP39 – AI ad U-turns; Argos and marketplaces; Wickes and home improvement · March 10, 2026 · 23 min
• EP38 – Does size matter? Has Bayer got it wrong? Should you in-house? · March 3, 2026 · 20 min
• EP37 – Adam Smith, Iceland Retail Media – the hard work to make screens awesome · February 17, 2026 · 25 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Retail Media Therapy podcast page.