Experts reveal how AI Agents impact retail, shopping and customer loyalty

Techday NZ

4 days ago

AI agents are poised to become part of everyday life. Google's Gemini helps plan your week, while OpenAI's voice assistants manage tasks through natural conversation. A wave of startups and innovators are already building AI agent solutions for specific business needs using foundation models from leading providers.
Previously limited to their own data, these models now incorporate additional information and capabilities through special APIs and developments like Model Context Protocol (MCP), creating reliable connections to external sources.
AI agents are here, what does it mean for loyalty?
The marriage of AI and retail loyalty makes a lot of sense. Eagle Eye, for example, already has a powerful AI-driven personalisation engine and other predictive systems, which thrive on ingesting and processing data intelligently.
In addition to being able to ask questions, AI agent helpers can make decisions, compare prices and steer people to where to shop. This stands to change how retailers reach customers.
Four ways AI agents will reshape loyalty:
1. The rise of the personal loyalty concierge: Most loyalty programs today require customer effort; browsing offers, tracking points, redeeming rewards. AI agents reverse this dynamic. Acting as personal concierges, they understand your preferences, track rewards across programs, and proactively suggest ways to maximise benefits while shopping.
2. Mass-market offers become financially unsustainable: Blanket promotions available to all customers will become even less viable in an agent-driven marketplace. AI agents are built to optimise for value, identifying and exploiting the most generous public offers. This cherry-picking erodes margins and will render mass offers increasingly unprofitable.
3. A new era of offer optimisation: AI agents necessitate a step-change in how offers are structured and delivered. Offers must be real-time, personalised, and API-accessible for easy evaluation by AI assistants. Loyalty programs will need to evolve to support dynamic offer issuance, individual targeting, and instant redemption.
4. Trust and transparency become the currency: As AI agents mediate interactions, retailers won't just sell to customers, they'll negotiate with algorithms. Simplicity and genuine value will be rewarded, while complexity and trickery will be filtered out. Clear, fair loyalty programs will build the trust needed for this new landscape.
AI Agents: Opportunities and challenges
Dr Jason Pallant, Senior Lecturer of Marketing at RMIT, says he is intrigued by AI agents because of how they may empower consumers to tailor their shopping experience, as well as how brands will leverage this further with loyalty.
"We know consumers now want, and even expect, tech and AI to help them navigate purchase decisions, particularly complex ones," he says. "AI agents could be a really effective way to do that, helping consumers leverage AI insights without needing prompting skills. The opportunity for brands that get it right could be highly personalised and engaging shopping assistants delivered at scale. That's the promise and potential at least."
Pallant also notes however that brands will need to rethink how they interact with customers vs with agents to ensure both are nurtured correctly.
"Consumers still desire human interaction, particularly for complex purchases, and this actually increases the more technology advances," he says. "Just look at complaints around chatbots that lock consumers in and won't let them talk to humans. More 'intelligent' agents might simulate that human interaction better but there's still a level of technology in the middle.
"That interaction can also create a 'black box' effect, particularly with agents, where it's not always clear to consumers where an answer has come from or why. Brands need to make sure they stay transparent throughout the process to maintain consumer trust."
As with all technologies there can be upsides and downsides, which need to be navigated by brands to ensure they are maximising the good and not forgetting their customers.
"While AI agents might increase engagement and personalisation at scale, they risk losing the human element and competitive advantage of the brand if not used strategically," Pallant says.
Digital connections and [reparing for change
In the retail loyalty space, these connections will require a backend that can process loyalty transactions in real-time, deliver personalised offers at moments of decision, communicate seamlessly with AI systems through standardised protocols, and adapt rapidly as agent capabilities expand.
Remember, getting into a good position on AI isn't just about money. In the case of agentic AI, retailers will succeed if they understand how agents evaluate and present options to consumers, remember that behind the agents are humans who both demand efficiency and occasional acknowledgement, and design their loyalty experiences accordingly.