Phillip Jackson’s media firm, Future Commerce, focuses on developments and developments in enterprise.
The corporate surveyed U.S. buyers through the 2025 vacation season. He says one perception stood out: when AI recommends a product, 77% of respondents depart the platform to purchase on the model’s website.
Phillip first appeared on the podcast in early 2024. On this our newest dialog, he addressed the downsides of optimized ecommerce websites, the outlook of conventional search, and, sure, the rise of autonomous buying brokers.
The complete audio of our dialog is embedded under. The transcript is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: Convey us updated.
Phillip Jackson: Future Commerce is a media firm exploring the tradition of commerce by newsletters, podcasts, analysis, and occasions.
Once you and I final spoke, I keep in mind pondering, “I’m made for this.” It felt like all the pieces I’ve discovered over my total profession was in a single place.
Ecommerce was troublesome after I began in 1999. I spent greater than a decade working for a direct-to-consumer vendor of pure well being merchandise. We hand-coded websites in HTML, ran Google AdWords, and scaled a number of manufacturers.
Bandholz: Is it higher in 2026?
Jackson: I’ve been saying since round 2019 that we’ve reached the best web site. We’ve optimized ecommerce experiences to dying, and what’s left is effectivity and tedium.
We do loads of client and government analysis at Future Commerce. In a single examine revealed round 2022, we analyzed about 15 of the world’s highest-traffic ecommerce websites, excluding Amazon. Assume manufacturers like Bathtub & Physique Works and Mattress Bathtub & Past. We eliminated logos and navigation, then confirmed the pages to customers. Most individuals couldn’t inform one website from one other as a result of they’re functionally similar.
That stage of optimization is highly effective, but it surely has a draw back: it’s unmemorable. These websites are designed for conversion, not for recall or cultural affect. They’re slippery. You purchase, you allow, and nothing sticks.
You see this in every single place in tradition. Netflix is a good instance. It’s unimaginable how they use knowledge to maximise completion charges, which is why they launch total seasons directly. The info in all probability proves it really works. Nevertheless it doesn’t present what’s misplaced: cultural dialog. Exhibits launched throughout many weeks stay a part of the tradition for prolonged durations.
The identical factor has occurred in ecommerce and product design. Web sites, sport utility automobiles, smartphones, and even electrical toothbrushes all converge on the identical type.
Many business people hope AI will make ecommerce thrilling once more, however actual innovation requires danger, which few firms are prepared to tackle.
Bandholz: Will marketplaces and AI exchange model web sites?
Jackson: There’s quite a bit packed into that query, and we even have knowledge round it. On the sensible aspect, the web site isn’t going anyplace. Advertisers could shift platforms, and AI-driven discovery is clearly altering habits, particularly amongst Gen Zs. Generative AI websites have turn out to be a trusted supply for product and model discovery.
We researched client AI utilization earlier than and after the 2025 holidays. One perception stood out. When AI recommends a product, buyers overwhelmingly want to depart the platform and go to the model’s web site. Throughout two research, two cohorts, and a number of English-speaking nations, 77% mentioned they’d fairly click on by to the web site than purchase contained in the AI interface.
That challenges the narrative that AI brokers will deal with all buying. I’m bullish on brokers long run, however the web site stays the middle of context, belief, and data for generative engines.
Apparently, AI could have an effect on bodily retail extra rapidly than digital. In our knowledge, 35% of Gen Zs and 40% of Gen Xs mentioned they’d fairly purchase based mostly on an AI advice than go to a retailer.
Extra broadly, outdated and new methods all the time coexist. Markets don’t disappear; they evolve. The manufacturers that survive could have sturdy merchandise, a transparent id, and robust relationships. Virtually definitely they are going to have web sites. Every little thing else remains to be up for debate.
Bandholz: Will genAI exchange conventional search?
Jackson: We’re seeing indicators of that shift. Nonetheless, there are financial inquiries to reply. What firms win the AI race? Which client merchandise turn out to be dominant?
Sure, AI is disruptive, but it surely’s additionally introducing a brand new modality in our relationship with digital tradition. It isn’t only a search field. It’s a unique type of interplay. I see it as complementary fairly than unique. Conventional methods don’t vanish in a single day; they adapt and coexist. AI modifications habits, but it surely layers onto current habits fairly than erasing them.
Bandholz: What’s your recommendation to people beginning in ecommerce?
Jackson: Some stage of funding in genAI visibility is non-negotiable. Shoppers are more and more turning to engines like ChatGPT for product suggestions. In case you’re not monitoring whether or not your model reveals up there, try to be. It might be the closest factor now we have to true natural discovery.
Past that, many more recent suppliers aren’t dwelling as much as their promised disruption. TikTok Store, for instance, is actually an affiliate channel. It’s highly effective, but it surely’s not going to alter basically how everybody outlets.
Bandholz: What main macro developments are you watching?
Jackson: The primary is machine autonomy. Each enterprise, from the smallest startup to the most important enterprise, is pushing for extra automation and productiveness. You see it with self-driving automobiles, supply robots, and last-mile automation. You additionally see it in firms, with methods that function with out human intervention. That shift is going on quick.
The second drive is human sovereignty, pushed by distrust in establishments. The Edelman Belief Barometer in early 2026 is at a 25-year low. Individuals don’t belief governments, firms, or methods the best way they used to. On the identical time, they now have instruments to confirm claims, construct their very own worldviews, and take management of choices.
Healthcare is an instance. People can now monitor their very own well being and interpret knowledge in ways in which weren’t doable 5 years in the past.
These two forces — autonomy and sovereignty — can complement one another, however they’ll additionally collide. Manufacturers that perceive easy methods to navigate each, at any scale, will outline the following period of commerce.
Bandholz: How can listeners comply with you and attain out?
Jackson: Our website is FutureCommerce.com. We’re on X, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. I’m on LinkedIn as effectively.
