Agentic Commerce and Retail Media become part of the Human Experience: Season 6 Preview
Season 6 of The Retail Razor Show is here! We’re diving into the future of retail through the lens of Agentic Commerce and Retail Media. In this trailer, Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden introduce a season built around the collision of technology, content, and the human experience. As Agentic Commerce reshapes how consumers discover and buy products, Retail Media becomes the environment where every decision is influenced, measured, and optimized.
This season builds on the momentum from Season 5. There we explored resilience, digital marketing, sustainability, resale, marketplace strategy, and leadership in an AI saturated world. Now we move into a new era where AI agents may shop on behalf of consumers. Retailers must understand how Agentic Commerce changes engagement, loyalty, and the path to purchase. At the same time, Retail Media continues to expand as a core revenue engine and a critical part of the customer journey.
What You'll Learn
You’ll hear from innovators who are building systems powered by Agentic AI. Leaders redefining Retail Media strategy. And operators proving that frontline teams can thrive when technology is designed to support them. This season explores how Agentic Commerce transforms merchandising, planning, and customer experience. And you'll learn why the human connection still matters more than ever!
Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, iHeartMedia, YouTube, and Goodpods. Stay connected with us on LinkedIn, Blue Sky, Threads, and Instagram.
If you want to understand where retail is heading in 2026, this is the podcast for you!
Subscribe to the Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/
Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube
Chapters:
00:00 Cold Open
00:23 Intro to Season 6
00:50 Reflecting on Last Season
01:38 Introducing Agentic AI
01:51 The Role of Media in Retail
02:09 Human Connection in a Digital World
03:02 The Era of Agentic Commerce
04:03 Looking Ahead: Innovators and Leaders
04:44 Stay Connected and Engaged
Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:
Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voice for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2025. Thinkers 360 has named him a Top 10 Thought Leader in Retail and AGI, a Top 50 Thought Leader in Management, Careers, and Transformation, and a Top 100 Thought Leader in Agentic AI and Digital Transformation. Thinkers 360 also named him a Top Digital Voice for 2024 and 2025. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation and the Retail Cloud Alliance. He was most recently the partner marketing leader for retail & consumer goods in the Americas at Microsoft.
Casey Golden, is CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2023 - 2026, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech! Currently, Casey is the North America Leader for Retail & Consumer Goods at CI&T.
Transcript
The Retail Razor Show Season 6 Trailer
[00:00:00] Cold Open
[00:00:00] Ricardo Belmar: If you think retail moved fast last year, get ready because it's 2026 and everything you thought you understood about AI, media, and the customer experience is about to shift again.
[00:00:12]
[00:00:23] Intro to Season 6
[00:00:23] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome to Season Six of The Retail Razor Show.
[00:00:26] I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.
[00:00:27] Casey Golden: And I'm your cohost, Casey Golden. This season is going to challenge the way you think about retail. We think about retail. The way everyone thinks about retail. We are stepping into a world where AI is not just assisting, it's acting. Media is everywhere, and the human experience is the one thing that keeps it all grounded.
[00:00:50] Reflecting on Last Season
[00:00:50] Ricardo Belmar: Last season, we talked a lot about resilience. We explored how retailers like you were using AI and media to unlock the human experience. We heard [00:01:00] from leaders who were reshaping retail media, reinventing digital marketing for Gen Z, and building communities that put people first. We dug into sustainability, resale, marketplace strategy, and even the emotional side of leadership in an AI saturated world.
[00:01:16] Casey Golden: And we learned something important. Retailers aren't just trying to keep up with change, they're trying to stay human while everything around you becomes more automated, more connected, and more data driven. That tension is real and it's shaping every decision retailers like you make.
[00:01:35] Ricardo Belmar: Which brings us to season six.
[00:01:38] Introducing Agentic AI
[00:01:38] Ricardo Belmar: Because the next chapter of retail is not just about AI. It's about Agentic AI. Systems that can take action. Systems that can collaborate. Systems that help retailers move at the speed your customers expect.
[00:01:51] The Role of Media in Retail
[00:01:51] Casey Golden: And it's also about the rise of media as the connective tissue of commerce. Media is no longer a channel. [00:02:00] It's the environment. It's the storefront. It's the discovery engine. It's the loyalty loop. It's the new battleground for attention and trust.
[00:02:08] Ricardo Belmar: But here's the twist.
[00:02:09] Human Connection in a Digital World
[00:02:09] Ricardo Belmar: Even as AI becomes more capable and media becomes more pervasive, the desire for human connection, it's stronger than ever. We saw it in our conversations last season from Ron Thurston reminding us that empathy and curiosity are leadership superpowers. To Shannon Flanagan, showing how community can change careers. To the Retail ROI team proving that retail's impact goes so much further than just transactions.
[00:02:34] Casey Golden: And we saw it in the data too. Gen Z, leaning into analog experiences, shoppers craving authenticity. If you haven't seen Porsche's new commercial, go watch it. But more importantly, go read about it. Store teams needing tools that actually support them. Brands trying to balance automation with humanity.
[00:02:56] Retailers wrestling with how to keep people at the center while still [00:03:00] moving fast.
[00:03:00] Ricardo Belmar: And now there's a new layer.
[00:03:02] The Era of Agentic Commerce
[00:03:13] Ricardo Belmar: We're entering an era where consumers may not shop for themselves at all. Their AI agents will. These agents will search, compare, research, negotiate, and buy on their behalf, and that changes everything. How do retailers build engagement when the shopper might be a digital AI agent instead of a human?
[00:03:20] How do you design experiences when the first impression is algorithmic? How do you win loyalty when the decision maker is digital?
[00:03:27] Casey Golden: These are the questions we've never had to answer before. And this season we're diving straight into them because agentic commerce is no longer a theory. It's happening, and retailers need to understand how to show up in a world where your customer might be a person, an AI agent, or both at the same time.
[00:03:47] Ricardo Belmar: That's what we're calling this season, agentic commerce, media, and the human experience, because that's where the future is heading. Retailers are not just adopting AI, they're orchestrating it. They're not just buying media. They're becoming media, [00:04:00] and they're not just serving customers. They're building relationships that matter.
[00:04:03] Looking Ahead: Innovators and Leaders
[00:04:03] Casey Golden: You'll hear from innovators who are already living in this future, leaders who are building agentic systems for merchandising and planning. Experts who are redefining retail media strategy. Founders who are creating new models for marketplaces, sustainability, and community. As well as operators who are proving that frontline teams can thrive when AI is designed to support them rather than replace them.
[00:04:29] Ricardo Belmar: And of course, we'll keep coming back to the heart of it all. Retail is human. It always has been, and it always will be. Technology can accelerate you, media can amplify you. AI can empower you, but connection is what keeps customers coming back.
[00:04:44] Stay Connected and Engaged
[00:04:44] Casey Golden: So if you're ready to explore the next era of retail where agentic AI meets commerce, and media shapes every moment and where the human experience is the ultimate differentiator. Then you're in the right place
[00:04:59] Ricardo Belmar: Follow us [00:05:00] on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music. TuneIn, iHeartMedia, YouTube, and Goodpods. Search for The Retail Razor Show and hit that subscribe button. And if you love what we do, leave a five star review, helps more people discover the show.
[00:05:12] Casey Golden: And stay connected with us on LinkedIn, Blue Sky, Threads and Instagram. We're everywhere, and we want you to share your questions, your challenges, and your wins. Who knows? We might invite you to the show.
[00:05:26] Ricardo Belmar: So thanks for joining us. Season Six of The Retail Razor Show is coming your way soon.
[00:05:30] Until then, stay sharp, stay human and stay ahead.
[00:05:34] This is The Retail Razor Show.
[00:05:36]