AI agents are the new gatekeepers of retail: what will become of brick-and-mortar stores?

It won’t be consumers themselves, but autonomous AI agents who will soon decide what, where, and when purchases are made. For brick-and-mortar stores, this isn’t a death sentence, but it is a hard reset: those who rely solely on sales per square meter will be squeezed out, according to new research from ING.

From customer to algorithm

High streets have been shrinking for years: in the Dutch non-food sector, the number of brick-and-mortar stores has fallen by 21% over the past decade. The explanation is well known: e-commerce is growing faster and putting pressure on prices, while costs for rent, energy, and staff remain high.