Commerce Riff with Sri & PVSB - June 30, 2026

PVSB 0:01

It's June 30th, 2026, and this is the Commerce Rift brought to you by the CPG guys. 10 minutes of news stories that matter in commerce this week. We're back after a short hiatus. We took while away working can lions down in the south of France. I'm your co-host, PVSP. I'm joined as always by Papa Entourage, as we came to call him on La Croisette, the father of pop stars, co-founders of Think Blue Consulting. He is the man known as Shree. Shri, what's up?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Happy to be back from what I would call, arguably, was a very long week at Ken. And uh we accomplished quite a bit, you and me. I think the news on the street is the CPG guys owned the Crossette. So congratulations to you, Suzanne, all our sponsors. I want to say thank you for the awesome partnership.

PVSB 0:44

Let's not forget our friends Nicole and Dom. They were big helps to us as well in the background. Great to have Nicole on stage and Dom helping us haul ice and do other things, right? All right, let's kick things off with how AI influenced the annual Prime Day sales this year. During this year's four-day Amazon Prime Day sales event, consumers were more likely to search for products using AI, and consumers who were steered to retail sites by AI were more likely to make a purchase, according to Prime Day data released today by Adobe. Adobe, which analyzed digital transactions on US retail sites during the four Prime Days, saw a market shift this year in the ability of AI-powered chat and browsers to drive sales. Shoppers who use AI to find product information and deals had a 40% better conversion or purchase rate than non-AI channels, such as page search, email, and social media. That is in sharp contrast to last year's Prime event, where conversion from AI directed traffic was 23% worse than other channels. While AI still generates a modest volume of online traffic compared to other channels, the new figure show AI is shortening the time it takes for consumers to confidently get the information they need, Adobe reported. AI-powered chat services and browsers have cemented their role in the online shopping experience, providing utility for shoppers who value the speed and convenience. Vivek Pandia lead analyst Adobe Digital Insights said when releasing Adobe's report on the first day of Prime Day. But Pandia noted a big problem for retailers that is sizable portions of retailers' websites, up to 46% in some cases, are not readable my machines. That is horrible. That problem, Pandia said, limits their visibility across AI surfaces and will push brands to invest in more AI-friendly content, such as tutorials, how-to guides, customer service pages, and more. Prime Day also highlights the importance of retailers being able to meet the increased demands of a sales event like Prime Day and to deliver the correct items in the promised timeline. Sometimes that has become more important in the age of AI, Omar Kari, CEO of e-commerce and supply chain platform logic broker, said. Quote, the same connected data infrastructure that allows retailers to manage inventory suppliers orders and fulfillment in real time during Prime Day is what makes products discoverable and trustworthy in the AI-driven commerce, Kari said. Yet many retailers remain too focused on how to get recommended by AI when the bigger question is whether they've earned the trust to keep being recommended at all. Adobe's been tracking the growth of AI-directed traffic to retail sites for more than a year. During the first five months of the year through May, AI traffic to US retailer sites increased by 235% year over year. During the prime day period, June 23 to 26, AI directed traffic was up 89% year over year.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Shree, over to you. Of course, the very next topic, Peter, has to be the details of the Prime Day numbers. So I'm going to get into that, but I want to thank our partners at Hotwire.com for efficiently sending me and Peter the details of the numbers, literally a few days after Prime Day has been executed. So again, I'll call out Hotwire.com and say thank you. Adobe released final figures for the Prime Day event, recapping June 23rd to 26 of 2026, profiling consumer spend and other trends across US retailers. Adobe's report provides the most comprehensive view into US e-commerce by analyzing direct transactions online, covering 1 trillion visits that happened to US retail websites and 100 million SKUs, 18 product categories, US retailers of 26.4 billion whopping dollars in online spend from June 23rd to June 26th, representing a 9.3% year over year growth compared to 2025, trending even above Adobe's initial forecast, which was 9%. This is changing the shape of the summer shopping season, which is beginning to rival the holiday period. As a comparison's point, consumers spent $32.45 billion across Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday in 2025, all encompassing what we call the holiday season. Mobile continues to be the dominant transaction channel, driving 54.2% of the online sales versus desktop during the Prime Day event, which represents a $14.2 billion of overall spend and all-time high. Numbers are wild, Peter. Competitive discounts to online demand, as shoppers have been conditioned to wait for big promotional PhD buy-on products. They've had the eyes on. And Amazon makes it easy by save for later. Consumers found great deals that are on par with last year's Prime Day event, with discounts for electronic speaking at 24% of listed price. Greater than by 1% versus year ago, strong discounts were seen in apparel at 24%, toys at 20%, televisions at 19%, appliance at 16%, furniture at 16%, computers at 15% and sporting with the 10th. Some consumers also opted for greater payment flexibility during this event. Buy now paylaid orders accumulated for 6.6% of online orders, amounting $2.1 billion during the same period, also representing a 9.5% growth year over year. Here are more details. Strong discounts told many shoppers to trade up to higher ticket items. All categories tracked by Adobe, they share the most expensive goods, increased by 19% compared to average levels here today. In electronics, they share the most expensive goods grows by 51%. Consumers also traded up in categories such as stores up 37%, appliance 30%, personal care products 27%, furniture 24%, sporting goods 22%, apparently 11%. I think we can clearly say Prime Day is here and it's gonna grow year over year. At the category level, online sales were driven by electronics up 120%. This is average daily sales in June 2026. Appliance 90%, home improvement in two 70%, home and garden 65%, and even furniture and betting up 55%. At the product level, let's get into some details. Health and wellness. Online purchases, smartwatches were up 120%, exercise equipment up 85%, active wear 50% for kids. Back to school shopping remained the sales driver with upticks in across kids apparel at 140%, backpacks 115%, lunch boxes 105, car seats 140%. These numbers are just staggering. Purchases for the home, consumers took advantage of deals to refresh their living spaces. Online purchase the bedroom, bathroom linens were up 130%, mattresses up 80%, bedroom furniture up 45%, bathroom furniture 65%, bathroom fixtures 55%, cookware 75%, kitchen wear 50%, kitchen and dining furniture 40%, kitchen fixtures 35%. Everyday essential personal hygiene products like oil care, shampoo, and hyper spinning were up 125%. And even household goods were up 60%, such as trash bags, deterred into paper products. Summer travel, as some consumers prepare for the upcoming travel season. Online pushes were up in areas like luggage up 95%, car seats up 140%, noise cancelling headphones up 155%, portable charges up 70%, travel size toiletries up 70%, portable fans 55%. Peter, this is Alibaba Singles Day in the Making. It's been brewing for years. This year the numbers were whopping. Any merchant, especially the grocery ones, who do not understand the relevance of Prime Day. I'm sorry, Peter, I'm gonna use the word you're talking. Blood Ice. Get on the bandwagon. You don't have a choice.

PVSB 7:58

Yeah, that's a lot of data you shared, Shri. We'll try and put a link to the report in the liner notes of this episode so people can see it on their own. All right, from our friends at Retail Dive. Ask Can Lyons attendees what was top of mind of the show, and safe money is on artificial intelligence, is the answer. Part of that is doing some of the festival attention grabbing new entrants, but platforms and publishers nearly across the board are eager to demonstrate that their bets on the space, including in agentic AI, are moving from the realm of hype into reality. Amazon this week unveiled a new ad format, Alexa Plus Agentic Ads, that underlines the focus on leveraging AI to deliver more tangible outcomes for brands. Customers that are served an ad can strike up a voice chat, weigh different buying options, and compete, complete their transaction without having to leave the Alexa interface. In a demo shown by Amazon, a woman who is interested in getting concert tickets to see Jill Scott refines her search by noting the occasion is her mom's birthday and that she's open to paying more for premium seating options. She eventually finds front row seats on Ticketmaster, all via voice commands. Papa John's and The Orchard, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, are early partners on Alexa Agentic Ads, which are currently running in beta on Amazon's Echo Show devices. Alexa Plus became publicly available earlier this year following a beta period in 2025. Toward the end of last year, Amazon confirmed a TechCrunch that more than 1 million people had access to the Generative AI assistant, according to information shared by Amazon. Lexa is used in tens of millions of homes. Amazon plans to bring the format to Fire TV as well, where it will live in the carousel-like feature rotator experience on the home screen. While the testing periods in early days, executives emphasized they don't view Alexa Plus agentic ads as a limited experiment or theoretical use case. Quote We have ad products that are live today. This isn't something we're talking about or saying we're working on it, said Charlotte Maines, Amazon's VP of device content and advertising. In an interview Wednesday, Alexa Plus Agentic Ads do not require rigid phrases to know when to complete an action, according to Maines, and can pick up on subtler cues. Amazon sees the conversational nature of the technology as a way to eventually realize more personalized relevant ads, echoing where other AI platforms believe they can deliver value to brands. In Papa John's case, Alexa may remember the customers' favorite topping from a prior conversation, surface those as recommendation for repeat orders. This is literally the first thing of so many more opportunities for innovation because Alexa Plus, just as all the agentec AI assistance is new, said Maines. My job is to make sure that as customer engagement grows, advertisers can participate in those high intent conversations. Can Lions may also make for a crowded AI playing field, but Amazon sees an advantage over upstarts thanks to the same assets that have powered its advertising division into a $70 billion powerhouse. Those include an ad robust demand side platform, established measurement capabilities, and a rich transaction level data. Advertisers can be involved as involved or not involved as they want in terms of the creative team on how they generate these assets, but we offer a plug and play solutions that means we do have foundations, so we are able to offer a lot of data on how creative performs historically. Shri, close it out, would you?

SPEAKER_00 11:11

That's for sure, Peter. AI dominated the conversations that Amazon certainly did. So let's close this week with some other highlights from Can Lines for the large retail media networks. Remember, Amazon just executed its annual upfront event. So I'm going to talk to what Walmart Connect, Kroger Christian Marketing, and Albertson's Media Collective bought to the event. Walmart Connected Visio showcase the next evolution of commerce media, advancing a creativity-powered commerce strategy that helps brands move beyond traditional advertising to deliver fully integrated shoppable experience on the biggest screen in the home. It's focused on turning cultural moments into actual measurable growth. At the core of this approach is Lightbox Creative Solutions, Walmart Connect's in-house creative solutions studio. It develops immersive omni-channel experiences that connect inspiration to purchase through interactive and store activations, social first storytelling, and premium connected TV experience videos. Vision of part of that Walmart ecosystem, Walmart Connect can extend brands reach to the largest screen in the home. Alright, Kroger Precision Marketing is the latest retail media network to introduce an advertising collab with TikTok, enabling advertisers to reach Kroger shoppers directly within the TikTok advertising platform. The capability makes it easy for brands to activate trusted retail signals and monitor its most influential discovery environments. Advertisers will now be able to reach relevant audiences using TikTok's self-service advertising platform as well. The new collaboration comes to the creator economy. The new collaboration comes as the creator economy continues to be shipped by consumers discover products. From nano influencers to celebrities, creator-driven content is fueling product discovery and influencing purchasing discussions across categories for CPG brands, influenced across media plans are an increasingly important way to earn trust, deepen relevance, and grow sales across the board with consumers. Albertson's Media Collective is the third I have. They unveiled the industry's first branded entertainment model, and I personally love this one. It was co-developed with none other than PG. They opened a new lane for brands inside its retail media that work and pioneer the category for the industry. Proctor and Gamble is a strategic co-development partner for the inaugural work for this model and its RicoStockholes. The result is a shift in what retail media can be, not a place to burn an ad after its name, or a place where content is curated and distributed. Retail collaboration with Alberts Media Collective is further investing in amplifying Rico Stockholes across its owned and social media channels. Over to you, Peter, to wrap us up.

PVSB 13:37

Well, that is a wrap on this week's Commerce Riff. Before we go, make sure you've caught our most recent episode of the CPG Guys featuring Matt Foley, VP of Marketing for Brand Oreos, talking about the collab with BTS. Tomorrow's episode is with Kiri Masters, our own fun behind the scenes picture of what happened at Can Lions. If any of this sparks a thought, drop it in the comments. We read them. If you're not already following us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, now is the time. That's all we got. Take care.