Unified commerce has emerged to bring order to the chaos of fragmented tech stacks by consolidating data and creating consistent experiences. What if unified commerce teamed up with agentic AI, so retailers can harness centralized data to deploy autonomous shopping assistants and automate intricate commerce workflows, making interactions more fluid? With commercetools, this is now a reality.
The value of cross-channel shopping is undeniable, so much so that recent research by Incisiv¹ measured that shoppers who engage with brands across multiple channels exhibit a 70% higher retention rate compared to single-channel shoppers, and spend 15% more. But implementing those experiences across multiple channels — and if we go further, across multiple brands, business models and countries — remains a thorny issue for retailers.
The reason is simple: Even today, experiences transcending channels, brands and regions are delivered by a smorgasbord of touchpoints, each implemented via separate systems — eCommerce, POS (point-of-sale), CRM and inventory — using APIs, middleware and third-party integrations. The gaps that customers experience today when navigating such complex shopping journeys stem from the following issues:
Data synchronization challenges: Separate systems require constant syncing, often leading to delayed or inaccurate information.
Higher operational costs: Managing multiple platforms and maintaining integrations increases expenses.
No real-time visibility: Inventory and customer data updates often lag, impacting order fulfillment and demand forecasting.
Disjointed customer experiences: Personalization and seamless transitions between channels are difficult to maintain.
RSR Research’s data² backs this up, as 65% of retailers admit their current technology stack doesn’t enable the customer experience they want and need to deliver. Sadly, 62% of customers agree, as they demand different store experiences than what retailers currently provide.
Unified commerce has become a necessity to bring order to this chaos. By moving beyond omnichannel or managing data in silos to providing a single view of the customer, retailers ensure consistency and context whether a customer is in-store, online or on the move.
Instead of managing data in silos, unified commerce enables businesses to connect all data, such as inventory, pricing, product data, customer profiles, loyalty programs and order history, in one platform, keeping data synchronized in real time. This allows retailers to:
Enhance customer experience through seamless omnichannel interactions.
Streamline decision-making with real-time analytics.
Centralize systems and workflows to reduce operational inefficiencies and duplication of efforts.
The result? According to Incisiv’s research¹, unified commerce leaders grow 3X faster.
Now, what if retailers could maximize the results of unified commerce even more with the upcoming agentic AI era?
Why unified commerce is your best ally for agentic AI workflows
Agentic AI, a subset of machine learning and deep learning techniques, enables computer systems to exhibit agency: The ability to set goals, make decisions autonomously, as well as take actions through perception, reasoning and action loops.
Imagine a retail homepage that reorganizes itself in real time based on browsing patterns, regional inventory levels and trending searches. Or a fulfillment engine that reroutes shipments on the fly to optimize delivery times and reduce costs. Or customer service that anticipates issues before a shopper reaches out, resolving problems in the background.
These aren’t far-off dreams: They’re real capabilities augmented by AI agents that understand business context, take initiative and learn from outcomes. In retail, these agents can support merchandising, marketing, logistics, customer service and more.
So, what does agentic AI require to make these scenarios a reality? Accurate data that can be retrieved and analyzed in real-time.
That’s where unified commerce comes in. By unifying fragmented data ecosystems in one place and eliminating the data silos spread across disconnected systems, retailers can achieve a 360-degree view of every bit of information.
Unified commerce provides accurate and instant data. Agentic AI transforms it into intel that can be used in various ways, from enhancing CX to making workflows more efficient.
Why composable infrastructure still matters
The underlying commerce infrastructure needs to be equally dynamic to support this kind of AI-driven agility. Monolithic platforms, even if technically integrated, are too rigid. They slow experimentation, limit scalability and often require costly customization to enable new capabilities.
A composable infrastructure, as highly scalable and built with flexible APIs, is the foundational layer to plug and play intelligent agents that can access real-time data and trigger decisions without disrupting the entire stack. This creates an environment where AI and automation are not bolted on, but embedded into the core of commerce operations.
Where commercetools comes in
Our core architectural philosophy provides a powerful advantage in enabling a unified commerce experience. Our platform enables commerce on all channels from a single backend, giving enterprise retailers a cohesive and centralized engine for all their operations. This design ensures that businesses can readily adapt and integrate new technologies and touchpoints as they emerge on the market, effectively future-proofing their investment.
With the introduction of commercetools InStore, retailers can now leverage a genuine unified commerce platform by bridging between the physical and digital channels, which is a complex task for less flexible platforms to replicate. With the addition of an AI-ready infrastructure, with the launch of Commerce MCP, commercetools can now expose key commerce capabilities — like carts, catalogs, pricing, promotions and inventory — in a modular, API-first format that’s easily consumable by AI agents.
But that’s just the beginning. With AI Hub, commercetools makes it easy to connect to leading AI ecosystems, such as Microsoft Copilot for Shopping, through seamless, plug-and-play integrations.
When unified commerce and agentic AI work together, the result goes beyond connecting systems. It’s about aligning strategy, operations and customer experience through real-time intelligence — bringing the full promise of unified commerce to life.
Be among the first to explore the Commerce MCP and AI Hub — now in early access. Get in touch to learn more and secure your access.
Technology executive with 30+ years in retail software, product strategy, and enterprise architecture. Cofounder of multiple companies focused on omnichannel and in-store solutions, with a track record of solving complex business challenges and driving retail innovation.