AI and the ever-changing world of online retail

RETAIL IS once again standing on the brink of profound change. Over the past 25 years, ecommerce has driven unprecedented supply chain complexity. To meet customers wherever they search and shop, retailers had to integrate systems capable of handling online orders, growing volumes of returns and new delivery preferences such as next-day shipping or buy-online-pick-up-in-store. Add to that viral shopping trends, climate or geopolitical disruptions and heightened consumer expectations, and the need for agile, responsive supply chains has never been greater. Yet many retailers still struggle to deliver consistently.

Now, artificial intelligence is reshaping the shopping journey once more. In the UK, more than half of consumers already use AI tools instead of search engines to find products, and 71% want deeper AI integration in their shopping experiences. Sensing the opportunity, AI platforms are now embedding personalised recommendations, targeted ads and even direct purchasing options. The question for retailers: how will this new AI-driven dimension impact their supply chain operations—and how can they prepare to stay ahead?

Unlimited opportunity and competition

AI shopping compresses the path to purchase. With a single prompt, consumers can access personalised product listings, reviews and price comparisons, dramatically reducing search time. Each interaction becomes a potential storefront, multiplying sales channels for every retailer, and every competitor. The result is accelerated purchasing, around the clock, across all geographies. While this opens vast sales potential, it also intensifies competition, shrinking the sales funnel and raising the stakes for speed, price and availability.

AI removes many of the friction points that once slowed shopping. But while discovery and purchase may become instant, consumer expectations around convenience, cost and delivery remain unchanged. Customers still demand transparency, affordability and fast, reliable fulfilment. Retailers unable to meet these expectations will see sales and loyalty suffer. That reality calls for a fundamental re-evaluation of supply chain processes.

Consider, for example, a shopper using an AI tool to search for a ‘sustainable red backpack, under £100’. In seconds, an AI shopping assistant can pull together a list from hundreds of retailers, and rank them based on availability, price, sustainability credentials and delivery timelines. If a retailer is out of stock, or has slow fulfilment, a competitor instantly captures the sale. In this AI-driven shopping era, even a single stockout or delay can translate directly into lost revenue. That makes inventory visibility, pricing strategy and fulfilment capacity essential to product discoverability and sales performance.

AI in the supply chain

During the ecommerce boom, supply chains were redesigned for flexibility but remained vulnerable to demand surges or external disruptions. Today, in a world of near-limitless competition and instant product availability, inefficiencies are no longer tolerable—they’re existential risks.

Legacy systems and disjointed processes can’t keep pace with AI-driven shopping. Outdated ordering, fulfilment, delivery and returns workflows may once have been “good enough,” but in an AI-first environment they guarantee non-competitiveness. The future demands connected, intelligent supply chains powered by AI.

Delays highlight how AI can enhance the shopping experience. When they occur, AI bots can automatically contact customers, provide updates and outline the best next steps. All of this happens quickly, without the need for human involvement, ensuring customers stay informed and supported throughout their purchase journey.

By analysing internal and external data, AI can anticipate disruption, determine optimal fulfilment points to balance cost and service, reroute goods in real time and ensure continuous product flow to meet demand profitably.

A new era

AI-powered shopping is more than an incremental change—it’s the next era of retail. It removes traditional barriers to purchase, offering hyper-personalisation, informed decision-making and near-instant paths from discovery to checkout. To truly deliver on this promise, however, brands need supply chains that are seamlessly integrated with the front-end experience and capable of supporting it end-to-end.

The future of retail will be defined by those who fuse AI into supply chain execution. Success won’t just hinge on fulfilling demand after a purchase – it will depend on predicting it before the customer even hits “buy.” Retailers that orchestrate their supply chains with the same speed, precision and intelligence that AI brings to the very first search will set the standard for the next era of commerce.

Eugene Amigud, chief innovation officer, Infios