The future of stores in an agentic commerce world

Retail has reached another turning point. For a decade, the argument swung between predictions of physical decline and optimism for omnichannel balance. That debate is now redundant. A new organising principle, agentic commerce, is reshaping the retail equation. In this world, AI agents act as autonomous proxies: anticipating needs, negotiating prices, executing purchases, and keeping the household or business supplied without human prompting. The store becomes the place where the decision is confirmed.

This shift is subtle in language but profound in practice. A century of retail design has been based on drawing the customer through discovery, evaluation, and purchase. In the agentic era, discovery and evaluation will often be concluded before the customer arrives, guided by an algorithm that has already weighed price, stock, sustainability credentials, and personal preference. The store isn't competing with the website; it is competing with the certainty of a machine’s recommendation.

That changes the role entirely. Stores will increasingly act as sensory amplifiers and trust theatres, places where a product can be touched, tasted, smelt, heard or trialled, and where the human connection to the brand can be strengthened enough to override the machine’s logic.

Over the next five years, the most competitive retailers will recast their physical spaces around this confirmation function. The theatre will become sharper. Sensory proofing will be frictionless, with instant access to stock and seamless integration with the customer’s agent. Storytelling will become more immersive, weaving physical, digital, and augmented layers into one narrative environment. And the social role of stores will grow, designed as much for co-creation, workshops, and community experiences as for transactions. In a world where AI narrows the choice to one optimal product, the store’s purpose is to reintroduce curiosity and delight.

Beyond 2030, the relationship between store and agent will become fully reciprocal. Customers will arrive with their AI having already negotiated customisation, delivery, and pricing. The store’s systems will recognise this on entry, adapt the environment in real time, and present both the shopper and their agent with relevant confirmation experiences. Shelving and displays will shift dynamically, overlaid with personalised information visible through AR or smart glasses. For some categories, the store will be a production site, creating customised goods on demand in minutes. The layout itself will blend machine-prioritised zones, where the agent’s shortlist is presented, with human discovery zones, where the aim is to spark serendipity.

The strategic challenge for retailers is to decide now which functions their stores will own in this future. Some will focus on being high-theatre brand experiences, where the goal is to strengthen emotional attachment. Others will serve as rapid fulfilment hubs, tightly integrated into automated supply chains. A few will aim to do all of these, using adaptive formats that change by time of day, season, or customer profile.

What is certain is that agentic commerce will compress the human role in shopping but also increase its value. The moment a customer decides to override their AI is the most precious point in the purchase journey—and it will happen, if at all, in the store. The next decade will determine whether physical retail becomes the premium layer in an AI-driven economy or a nostalgic footnote. Survival will not depend on convenience. It will depend on indispensability, to both human emotion and algorithmic logic.

Three Store Archetypes for 2035

The Brand Theatre

You step into a flagship whose entire environment shifts to reflect your profile. The lighting adjusts, music changes tempo, and the first associate you meet greets you by name, already briefed on your agent’s recommendations. You wander through sensory installations—textures, scents, and immersive projections—before arriving at the hero product zone. The product has been laid out exactly as you prefer, with personalisation options ready for your approval. You leave not only with a purchase but with a memory engineered to last.

The Hyper-Fulfilment Node

From the outside it looks like a compact retail unit. Inside, the public space is minimal; most of the footprint is a micro-warehouse with high-speed robotics. Your agent has pre-cleared the transaction, so the product is in your hands within two minutes of arrival. There is no browsing, only precision delivery. The model is designed for urban centres where speed is the only competitive currency.

The Co-Creation Hub

Part shop, part workshop, part social space. You and other customers work alongside brand designers to customise products in real time, whether that’s printing patterns on sneakers, blending your own fragrance, or co-designing homeware. Your agent participates too, feeding in your purchase history and taste profile. The point is not just to buy but to make, learn, and share—anchoring your loyalty in the sense of having shaped the product yourself.

These archetypes will not remain static. Retailers will experiment with hybrids, shift formats seasonally, and adapt to the pace of agentic adoption. But the principle will be constant: the store must earn its relevance with every visit, for both the customer and the algorithm acting on their behalf.