Beyond AI: The Smartest Brands Are Betting on the Aisle

The way AI is reshaping product discovery dominated the conversation at the Path to Purchase Institute's Retail Media Summit last month. 

But the real reveal was that the store is still the most important engagement channel. Here's how brands can win the next era of retail media:

Retail media is no longer the shiny new thing. It's a $70 billion-and-growing commerce capability, and the brands treating it like that are already pulling ahead. That was the through-line at this year's Retail Media Summit. One tension kept surfacing: The industry is pouring investments into AI while the most influential moment in the shopper journey still happens inside four walls, under fluorescent lights — in about three seconds flat.

The AI Paradox

AI dominated nearly every conversation and every stage at the Path to Purchase Institute's annual summer event. And rightfully so. According to Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights, one-third of U.S. adults now use ChatGPT weekly, and trust in AI agents jumped from 50% to 62% in just one year. 

Kantar research shared at the Summit added more texture: 45% of shoppers say they use AI assistants to help navigate the purchase journey, and 69% of AI-adopting shoppers have used ChatGPT specifically for shopping.

That's a meaningful behavioral shift. But what's getting lost in the hype is that most of AI's current contributions to commerce are optimizations: Data aggregation, reporting efficiency, creative versioning, audience analysis. Useful? Absolutely. Transformational? Not yet. 

There are no clear attribution frameworks for AI-influenced purchases, and limited evidence indicating significant incremental sales driven directly by AI platforms, or sustainable competitive advantages created solely through AI adoption. 

The industry is convinced that AI will reshape commerce, but the proof hasn't caught up to the conviction.

Where the Journey Starts Has Changed

What is genuinely new, and genuinely disruptive, is where discovery is now happening. 

AI is influencing shopper intent before advertising even gets the chance. Shoppers are increasingly starting their journeys on agentic platforms, getting product recommendations from conversational assistants and forming preferences before they ever set foot (or finger) in a retailer's ecosystem.

The customer relationship is splitting into three distinct parts: AI platforms are shaping understanding, influencing decisions and in some cases beginning to mediate demand. But retailers still own the transaction. Retail media networks still own most of the shopper data. And brands are still relying on retailer measurement frameworks to prove performance.

The discovery window is the one that's shifting. The important question is whether brands are shifting with it or just watching it happen.

The Aisle Still Wins the Moment of Choice

The most important takeaway is courtesy of Kantar: Even among shoppers who are all-in on AI, 58% still prefer to complete their purchases in physical stores. In-store remains the most influential touchpoint across most major CPG categories. AI isn't dramatically transforming the trip; it's simply optimizing it.

Meanwhile, the in-store experience itself is evolving away from static signage and shelf talkers. Dynamic, measurable and digital in-store media is becoming a serious investment channel. 

Retailers are integrating apps, digital screens and coupon activations to create omnichannel moments that are both shoppable and provable. Brands are using test-and-control methods to isolate and measure the incremental impact of ads on digital screens, turning the store into an accountable media buy. 

As Renee Hadley, director of shopper marketing at Nestlé, put it: Brands have three seconds to convert a shopper to a buyer. That demands creative that shoppers simply can't ignore.