Agentic shopping 101: a holiday playbook for marketers, with Brandon Doerrer

Agentic shopping is already shaping holiday 2026, even though most consumers aren't ready to let an AI agent use their credit card. Brandon Doerrer, media reporter at Ad Age, explains how AI shopping agents like Muse and ChatGPT Dots handle product discovery and consideration, and why brands that ignore them could vanish from gift searches. He covers where to start with product feeds, inventory details and agent access to your website, plus how agentic commerce overlaps with answer engine optimization (AEO), branded conversations and retail media networks.

Host Parker Herren and Doerrer dig into what marketers can act on now including giving agents richer product detail, planning for every agent instead of just one and building on the AEO work you already have. Doerrer also explains why agentic media buying is still more hype than reality. Follow Ad Age Insider so you don't miss the next conversation.

Dig deeper on the topics mentioned in this week's episode:

~How brands should prepare for an agentic holiday shopping season

~Amazon launches Branded Conversations at Unboxed 2026—what buyers think

~Media channels are changing rapidly—how to strategize for AI search, social commerce, total TV and IRL

~Enter the 2026 Ad Age CMO Impact Awards

~Listen the the Marketer's Brief podcast