Roger Dunn on AI, Agentic Commerce, and the Future of Retail Media

Retail media expert Roger Dunn joins hosts Nathan Guerra and Emmalee Crellin to discuss the evolving landscape of AI and retail. With more than two decades of experience, Dunn is a leader in the field and an IAB Retail Media Council member who authors the AI Commerce Brief on LinkedIn.

Four Futures for AI Shopping: Drawing on a BCG framework, Dunn outlines four scenarios:

Open Bazaar — Consumer AI agents freely discover and buy across retailers.
Super App / Data Fortress — Major tech platforms become all-in-one ecosystems for shopping, entertainment, and finance.
Creator-Led Revival — Trusted creators and communities drive discovery.
Brand Resurgence — Brands regain control through owned platforms and direct data relationships.

The "Alphabet Soup" of AI Protocols: Three protocols enabling AI to interact with commerce:

MCP (Model Context Protocol) — Open-sourced by Anthropic, MCP standardises how AI models connect to external tools and data — a "universal USB" for product catalogues, inventory, and more.
ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) — Associated with Stripe and OpenAI, focused on secure payments and checkout within AI environments.
UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) — Google-developed, connecting merchants to AI agents via infrastructure like Google Merchant Center.

Winning the "AI Shelf": Traditional SEO is like Battleship — you pick two or three keywords and hope you hit. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is more like spear fishing. By building structured, machine-readable content — FAQs, specific use cases, detailed product information — brands can meet the 25-to-60-word conversational prompts consumers now use with AI tools. More detail and tighter parameters mean more precise matches, turning discovery from a guessing game into a homing missile.

Quote of the Week:

Dunn's adviceI: “Start with the building blocks. Learn the technical fundamentals, get hands-on and build something yourself, then think strategically about where AI can drive efficiency and innovation.” Without that foundation, the strategic thinking doesn't land — technical literacy and direct experience are the prerequisites, not optional extras.

Mentioned Links & Resources

The AI Commerce Brief — Roger Dunn's newsletter on LinkedIn
BCG Framework — The matrix discussing four potential scenarios for the future of AI shopping
Roger Dunn on LinkedIn — Follow for his "Friday Memes" and retail media insights
Bon App!: 100+ French classics, made easy by Isabelle Dunn (Amazon)

Mind the Model: Got questions? Email the show at mindthemodelpod@gmail.com