The Supply Side: AI changing relationships between retailers, suppliers
The Supply Side: AI changing relationships between retailers, suppliers
Publish Date: 2026-05-21 13:08:00
Source Domain: talkbusiness.net
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AI Transformation and Investment: Walmart and other major retailers are heavily investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to transform their operations, including using bots and machine learning for report generation, customer assistance, and employee problem-solving.
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Strategic Approach to AI: Walmart’s CEO, John Furner, emphasizes starting with real customer problems rather than the technology. He highlights the importance of transforming information into actionable insights and responding to customer expectations rapidly.
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Training Workforce in AI Skills: Walmart’s Donna Morris announced plans to train 2.1 million employees with AI skills. The company is leveraging various AI tools and large language models to enhance its tech-driven initiatives.
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Gap Between Retailers and Suppliers: According to Eric Howerton and Cheryl Yarbrough, while major retailers are leading AI adoptions to enhance customer experiences, supplier brands are lagging behind. Brands not adopting AI risk falling behind in terms of visibility and relevance in the market.
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Agentic AI and Conversational Commerce: The shift towards agentic AI, known for its autonomous capabilities and deep data utilization, promises more efficient processes. Rob Gandes suggests brands need to have detailed content and specifications to stay relevant in AI-driven conversational commerce.
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Future Shift in Purchasing Decisions: With the advancement of agentic AI, there’s an expectation that consumers may soon delegate purchasing decisions to AI agents, fundamentally changing marketing strategies from influencing human decisions to algorithm ones.
