8 Gennaio 2026

by agoratech

Return on intelligence: The human edge in an agentic era

The retail industry is entering a defining moment. Retailers have become accustomed to near-constant disruption and volatility. Consumers are more selective, margins remain tight, and the pressure to deliver seamless, personalized experiences is relentless. At the same time, technological advances are rewriting the rules of engagement. Analysts forecast that agentic commerce—where intelligent AI agents discover, compare, and complete purchases on behalf of shoppers—could represent 10 to 20% of United States ecommerce sales by 2030, or up to USD385 billion.¹ Adobe reports AI-powered traffic surged 670% year-over-year on Cyber Monday,² signaling that this shift is already underway. The question isn’t whether agentic AI will transform retail. It’s how retailers will harness it without losing what makes them indispensable to consumers.

Learn more about integrating AI agents into your operations with our e-book

Microsoft for retail

Accelerate retail growth

At Microsoft, we see retail moving forward into a world where agents strengthen and streamline human action through automation and intelligence on tap. Cutting-edge agentic technology will enable retailers to move faster and smarter. But the emotional connection with the consumer, the trust, creativity, and empathy that define great brands, cannot be automated. Delivering authenticity at scale will rely on a workforce model that consciously centers and invigorates the collaborative human experience—one that sees agents as force multipliers for workers to deploy in pursuit of their best work. As one retail analyst put it, “Technology alone isn’t enough—real transformation requires rethinking how we work within human-plus-agentic teams.”³ Success in the next chapter in retail will accrue to the organizations who maximize the power of these human-agent teams—what we at Microsoft call a Frontier Firm. 

That’s why we believe the agentic future should be human-led, with automation embedded in key workflows and a return on intelligence that helps people move faster and smarter. Retail executives echo this vision: “AI tools can free up front-line employees to prioritize tasks that require a human touch, such as engaging with customers and designing stores.”⁴ Consumers will continue to seek out and reward authentic, down-to-earth experiences, even as they embrace AI for convenience. The retailers who win in 2026 and beyond will be those who combine the best of both worlds: the speed and precision of agents with the creativity, empathy, and expertise only humans can deliver.

How Microsoft agentic solutions are helping move retail forward

We are excited and proud to be leading the evolution of agentic retail with right-sized development options for every organization—whether they’re looking for a fully-configurable, pro-code development experience or a low-code/no-code, fully-managed environment. 

Microsoft Foundry enables professional developers to build, optimize, and govern sophisticated AI solutions that run at the edge or in the cloud. Retailers seeking deep customization benefit from the widest selection of foundation models on any cloud, including models tailored for the retail industry, open agent frameworks, vast integrations, enterprise scalability, and organization-wide observability and controls. For example, Foundry IQ helps organizations securely ground AI apps and agents on enterprise data stored in any location, while Foundry Tools allows agents to automate workflows and respond with real-time precision across more than 1,400 business systems like SAP, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Shopify, Stripe, Adobe, and Dynamics 365. This enables retailers like The ODP Corporation and Bayer to drive business results with action-oriented and context-aware agents as part of their broader application landscape. 

Organizations looking to rapidly prototype conversational commerce and worker empowerment agents will appreciate Microsoft Copilot Studio easy low-code/no-code configurability and straightforward integrations. And for retailers looking for a turnkey experience with minimal time-to-value, we offer a curated group of managed agent templates in Copilot Studio that will help these organizations deploy enterprise-ready AI agents without starting from square one.

Each template comes preconfigured with proven logic, connectors, and workflows backed by rigorous evaluation, model tuning, and quality controls. Retailers can deploy agents with confidence knowing that Microsoft security, compliance, and lifecycle governance are built in. Native integration across Microsoft 365 and Power Platform makes it easy to embed intelligence into existing applications, automate workflows, and streamline data orchestration.

Together, these capabilities reduce implementation time, lower IT overhead, and accelerate time-to-value—quickly moving organizations from pilots to real, scalable outcomes.

Today, we are introducing three agents built specifically for retail: one for product discovery, one for catalog enrichment, and one for store operations. Each is designed to help retailers tame complexity, improve data quality, and deliver higher-value customer and employee experiences.

Personalize retail journeys with the personalized shopping agent

The personalized shopping agent template serves as a digital expert associate available across retail channels. It goes beyond basic search-and-scroll by delivering guided, natural language product discovery that helps the shopper feel like a knowledgeable store associate is assisting them.

Instead of returning loosely related results, the agent asks clarifying questions, interprets nuance, and offers informed recommendations that reflect real customer needs. Retailers can tune the agent’s voice, language, and style to match their brand, ensuring every interaction reinforces the retailer’s identity and expertise.

Whether customers are searching for a fragrance that evokes a memory, planning an outfit for a themed event, or finding the right running shoes for an upcoming marathon, the agent engages in thoughtful conversation to guide decision making. Built on Microsoft Foundry’s enterprise grade AI stack—including Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models, Azure Machine Learning prompt flow, and Microsoft Fabric—the agent delivers personalized discovery at scale while remaining easy to integrate across web, mobile, and in-store experiences.

Its headless and tailless architecture allows retailers to pull from multiple systems and maintain a consistent, branded experience anywhere it is deployed. Cross-sell and upsell intelligence, financing suggestions, and even in-home service recommendations help retailers drive higher conversion and customer satisfaction.

Leading retailers are already putting this to work. Ralph Lauren’s “Ask Ralph” virtual stylist runs on this agent template, with comprehensive knowledge of the brand’s products, design philosophy, craftsmanship, and history, emulating the immersive experience of a Ralph Lauren flagship store.

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Catalog enrichment: From messy product data to meaningful content

For more than three decades, retailers optimized their product catalogs for three-word search terms. But conversational search shines when it can query catalogs full of detailed, multi-dimensional product attributes. Retailers eager to surface the perfect personalized product suggestions to their customers can quickly improve the accuracy and relevance of conversational search results by augmenting their catalogs with a rich set of attributes for each product.

Modernizing and enriching product descriptions is no small task, however. Even if a retailer could resolve all the gaps and inconsistencies in their legacy product catalogs, manual data entry, inconsistent vendor information, and the scale of product refresh cycles promise ongoing operational friction and disappointing conversational search results.

The catalog enrichment agent template solves this by automatically cleaning, completing, and standardizing product information. Designed for simplicity and accessibility, the configured agent integrates directly into familiar environments like Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, where merchandisers can review flagged items, approve updates, and act quickly as product offerings change.

Because the agent does not rely on a fixed schema or centralized data source, it can ingest product details from images, PDFs, structured tables, or unstructured documents. It then transforms that information into clean, brand-aligned catalog entries. The agent can work independently or alongside existing systems, giving retailers a flexible, modular way to improve data quality without large-scale re-platforming.

Once data is ingested, the agent extracts key attributes, applies brand guidelines, aligns content to the retailer’s taxonomy, and generates consistent product descriptions. It can process thousands of products—flagging low-confidence entries and producing review-ready outputs—before teams even start their day.

As merchandisers provide corrections, the agent learns and improves over time. Whether operating in auto approval mode or with human review, it dramatically reduces manual workload and improves the accuracy of product data. The result is better product discovery, higher customer confidence, and more scalable catalog operations.

“With Microsoft’s catalog enrichment template forming the backbone of our personalized shopping experiences, we can turn product details into meaningful insights that help shoppers discover styles in real time, receive tailored recommendations, and explore complete looks. It’s a powerful step forward in our commitment to delivering service that’s as dynamic our brand.”  

David Torrecilla, Head of Innovation at Guess

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Store operations: Turning real world signals into real time action

The store operations agent template is a prebuilt, low-code solution that converts real-world signals into timely, actionable guidance for every store. It continuously monitors external factors—weather, events, holidays, and seasonality—and triggers operational recommendations when conditions change.

Store managers can review, approve, or refine these suggestions, and the agent improves with each piece of feedback. Once approved, the agent orchestrates execution through Microsoft Teams Planner, creating and assigning tasks with clear instructions, due times, and progress tracking. This keeps teams aligned, improves task compliance, and shortens the signal-to-action cycle.

The agent includes integration stubs and templates so retailers can connect to inventory, shipping, workforce planning, and other systems. It can be tailored to specific policies, playbooks, KPIs, and regional requirements, enabling day-to-day operational precision.

Strandbags, the largest specialty luggage and accessories retailer in Australia and New Zealand, is one of the early adopters. Their teams are using the store operations agent template to act more quickly on local insights and stay ahead in a dynamic retail environment.

Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply is also deploying the store operations agent template in locations across six U.S. states.

 “Beyond efficiently aggregating data, the agent provides valuable insights into community events, sales trends, and actionable recommendations for improving store performance. A key aspect of this agent is its integration into our ecosystem, allowing us to continuously refine its capabilities and enhance the value it delivers.” 

Steven Potratz, Senior Learning and Development Leader at Murdoch’s

Shirley Gao, Chief Digital and Information Officer of PacSun, shared that the objective of the store operations agent template deployment underway in PacSun’s retail locations is “to embed AI at the core of store operations, equipping associates with predictive intelligence, actionable workflows, and real-time business alerts. This enhances operational visibility and accelerates data-driven decision-making at the store level. Through continuous co-creation and adaptation to our unique processes, we ensure AI delivers meaningful impact for both our business and our people.” 

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Transforming retail end-to-end

Every product, every collection, and every campaign is part of a broader narrative retailers use to connect with customers. But delivering those experiences consistently requires precision, context, and agility.

Microsoft’s retail agent templates are designed to make that possible.

The personalized shopping agent template turns product discovery into a tailored conversation.
The catalog enrichment agent template ensures foundational data is accurate, complete, and aligned to the brand.
The store operations agent template transforms signals into action and orchestrates execution at scale.

Together, they form a connected ecosystem that supports the full arc of retail storytelling—from data to discovery to delivery. By pairing agentic automation with human judgment, these solutions help retailers scale their brand, delight customers, and achieve greater return on intelligence (ROI).

All three agents are available today in Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Marketplace.

Retail is entering a new era—one built on intelligence, speed, and empowered teams. I’m excited to partner with you as we take the next step forward.

See these agents in action and much more at NRF 2026

Join me on Monday, Jan 12, 2026 on the Big Ideas stage at NRF 2026 for Becoming a Frontier Firm: Unlocking the New ROI—Return on Intelligence as I explore the journey to an agentic future. 

Hear from Kathleen Mitford, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Industry Marketing in conversation with Adobe and The Coca-Cola Company about the future of retail growth on the Big Ideas stage. Don’t miss Personalization at Scale: Using AI to unlock the next phase of growth on Sunday, January 11, 2026.  

Enjoy an illuminating fireside chat, The future of an icon: Ralph Lauren’s journey of heritage, innovation and partnership with Microsoft on the keynote stage on Monday, January 12, 2026. Featuring Shelley Bransten, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Industry Solutions and David Lauren, Chief Branding and Innovation Officer at Ralph Lauren, this session will explore how iconic brand heritage and digital creativity converge to shape the future of luxury retail. 

Interested to learn how you can jump-start your agentic future? Visit us at Booth #4503 to experience:

AI-powered shopping journeys.
Intelligent merchandising and catalog enrichment.
Dynamic supply chain orchestration.
AI-assisted workforce solutions.
Customer stories across throughout in-booth demos and theater that showcase the ROI of AI and agents today.

Explore solutions and more

Read the e-book “Empower Your Team: A Leader’s Guide to Building an AI Workforce in Retail and Consumer Goods”

Find out how you can start deploying agents across your organization with Microsoft Agent Factory. 
Learn how agentic AI and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are helping organizations shape the future of retail.
See Forrester’s Predictions 2026: Digital Commerce.
Discover how your organization can become a Frontier Firm at a Microsoft AI Tour event near you.
Explore key retail AI use cases, customer stories, partner solutions, and more on the Microsoft for Retail homepage.
Follow Microsoft Cloud on LinkedIn.
Read about how Microsoft is setting the standard for responsible AI practices.