Deep DiveThe IMPACT Playbook: A Six-Point Guide To Help Retailers Achieve Readiness in Implementing AI Charlie Poon, AnalystJohn Harmon, CFA, Managing Director of Technology Research Sector Lead: John Harmon, CFA, Associate Director of Technology Research September 28, 2026 Reasons to ReadDiscover how retail readiness for agentic AI is moving from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide capability, as shared infrastructure, task-tested models, governed decision boundaries and consumer-ready agentic commerce reshape how retailers compete. Read this report to uncover answers to these and other questions: How does shared data and infrastructure investment determine whether AI pilots scale into repeatable business capabilities? What should determine whether retailers buy, adapt or build their own AI models? What decision boundaries, safeguards and “kill switches” are needed to contain the risks of increasingly autonomous AI agents? Which AI applications are retailers prioritizing to scale, and how should they measure adoption and net benefit against a baseline? How ready are consumers and retailers for agentic commerce, and what workflow and organizational changes are needed to capture AI’s efficiency gains? Companies mentioned in this report include: Alphabet (Google); Amazon; Anthropic; Kroger; Microsoft; Mistral AI; OpenAI; Perplexity AI; RELEX Solutions; Target; and Walmart. Data in this report include: North American retail decision-makers’ survey findings on AI governance barriers; Coresight Research consumer survey data on GenAI shopping adoption and purchase completion; shopper comfort levels with autonomous AI grocery purchasing, by retail membership status; the most attractive features of AI shopping assistants to US shoppers; AI deployment rates across retail business functions. Already a subscriber? Log in You are currently viewing a preview of this report. Please select an access option to view the full report. Hide Options - Show Options + Get unlimited access to all our research with one of our subscription plans. View Subscription Plans or Contact us to purchase this report. Contact us ✕ This document was generated for