Why Agentic Commerce is Replacing the Holiday Search Bar

December 23, 2025 | Seattle, WA

Why Agentic Commerce is Replacing the Holiday Search Bar

The traditional holiday window just received a major boardroom makeover. While headlines usually focus on foot traffic and festive ads, the real heat this Christmas is happening in the code. We have entered the era of Agentic Shopping. The search bar is officially a legacy tool. The AI agent is the new retail concierge.

The Intelligence: From Search to Summon

In 2025, we moved past basic chatbots. Leading brands like Nike and Sephora are no longer just using AI to answer simple questions. They are leveraging agentic systems that can autonomously bundle products, handle complex returns, and price match in real time. We are witnessing a shift from searching to summoning. Customers are telling AI agents exactly what they need and letting those tools find the best deal.

The Enterprise Hook: The $73 Billion Engine

The scale of this shift is staggering. According to the latest data from Salesforce, AI driven agents are on track to influence $73 billion in global sales during this holiday season alone. High performers like Ulta Beauty and Macy’s are using Salesforce Data Cloud and Adobe’s AI native stacks to power hyper personalized discovery.

The results are clear. Retailers who deployed branded agents on their sites saw sales growth outperform competitors by significant margins. In 2025, traffic from agentic AI sources converted up to eight times better than traffic from traditional social channels.

The Cultural Heat: The New Mall for Gen Z

For Gen Z, the mall is an algorithm. Roughly half of Gen Z shoppers now rely on AI curated social feeds and autonomous tools to find their holiday must haves. They are not looking for a simple discount. They are looking for affordable affluence. They want items that telegraph cultural relevance, and they want those items surfaced through a feed that knows their style better than they do.

The Strategy Note: Selling to the Algorithm

The bottom line is simple. In 2026, you are no longer just selling to humans. You are selling to the agents they deploy. If your product is not optimized for agentic discoverability, you do not exist in the new holiday ecosystem.