The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX
Episode #781: CommerceIQ CMO Sai Koppala on Retailer Resilience Through Intelligent Operations
Date: December 8, 2025
Host: Greg Kihlström
Guest: Sai Koppala, CMO at CommerceIQ
Overview
This episode explores the evolution of retailer resilience in an era marked by economic turbulence, inflation, tariffs, and increased consumer price sensitivity. Host Greg Kihlström and guest Sai Koppala, CMO of CommerceIQ, discuss how leading brands are leveraging AI-driven strategies to go beyond traditional, reactive merchandising tactics. They deep-dive into the shift from dashboard-driven, manual operations towards proactive, automated, and intelligent commerce—with human–AI collaboration at the core.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Rethinking the Retail P&L Playbook With AI
- Challenge: Relying on outdated approaches like blanket price hikes, layoffs, or deep discounting to manage cost pressures is increasingly unsustainable and risks eroding brand loyalty or margins.
- AI Solution: Progressive brands are combining diverse data sources—retail sales, operational signals, and media data—to enable precise, context-driven price optimizations and investment strategies.
- Example: In the toys category, high-end products saw over 10% price increases, while lower-end products maintained flat pricing for price-sensitive consumers.
- Quote:
"Brands are rewriting the P&L playbook using AI. It's not just ‘How can I find profit with precision?’; it's also, ‘Where can I increase prices without alienating consumers, and where can we just not?’"
— Sai Koppala [03:04]
2. AI’s Role in Balancing Profitability and Consumer Trust
- Consumer Sensitivity: With shrinkflation damaging consumer trust, brands now seek more nuanced pricing strategies.
- Micro-segmentation: AI detects which SKUs require price support and which can bear increases, using click-through, sales, and promo data.
- Quote:
"Being transparent about price increases—‘because of tariffs we’re absorbing as much of the cost as possible’—really helps maintain trust."
— Sai Koppala [06:35]
- Quote:
- Transparency: Major retailers (e.g., Walmart, P&G) have openly communicated price changes, often resulting in improved customer sentiment.
3. Real-Time Intelligence: From Insights to Automated Action
- AI in Action: Brands use over 50 real-time data signals (e.g., CPC, shelf inventory, media performance) to adapt campaign bids and inventory in moments, particularly during high-velocity events like Prime Day.
- Impact: Some brands reported +140% incremental ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and a 3x increase in traffic, all while reducing cost.
- Quote:
"It’s manually impossible for a brand with 500+ SKUs across 20 retailers to optimize everything. AI does what armies of analysts can’t."
— Sai Koppala [08:34]
4. The Shift: AI Teammates & Human+Machine Collaboration
- Automation & Approval: AI tools such as CommerceIQ’s “Ally” make recommendations (e.g., pause ad spend on out-of-stock SKUs), while humans approve or refine actions.
- Quote:
"Teams are spending less time chasing and cleaning data, and more on strategy and decision-making. You still need human judgment, but the grunt work is automated."
— Sai Koppala [10:57]
- Quote:
5. Success Metrics for the AI-First Brand
- From Growth to Profitable Growth: Shift away from measuring just volume and traditional ROAS, toward metrics like incremental ROAS, net profit per margin, and contribution.
- Content Optimization: AI identifies trending keywords (e.g., in pet food, if “protein” is trending) and automates product page updates for each retailer.
- Quote:
"It’s all about efficiencies—improved conversion, reduced cost, and being really strategic about pricing decisions."
— Sai Koppala [16:02]
6. Transparency as the New Currency of Loyalty
- Correlations: Brands that are transparent about the ‘why’ behind pricing choices see improved trust, sales, and sentiment.
- Quote:
"In a market defined by uncertainty, trust is essentially the new currency of loyalty."
— Sai Koppala [17:15]
- Quote:
7. Looking Ahead: AI Agents and the Reimagined Retail Team
- Agentic AI: Rapid advances will allow retailer and brand AI agents to collaborate directly—streamlining formerly slow, manual partnership processes.
- Quote:
"The future is AI agents on both sides—brand and retailer—working together. Once human teams approve changes, agents update sites automatically. This is where we’re heading."
— Sai Koppala [21:36]
- Quote:
- Human Competencies: As AI handles execution, human teams must focus on decision-making, collaboration, and strategic planning.
8. Building Agile Teams: Culture and Mindset
- Agility Requires Safety: Foster psychological safety, encourage experimentation, and value a growth mindset in hiring and team building.
- Hands-On Leadership:
"Even as a marketing leader, I get my hands dirty to understand how AI can help the team. Leaders need to experiment, try, and learn."
— Sai Koppala [23:12]
- Hands-On Leadership:
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On AI’s Impact in Retail
"We are actually seeing brands rewrite the P&L playbook using AI...combining a variety of data, figuring out where we can increase prices and where we cannot afford to."
Sai Koppala [03:04] -
On the Impossible Scale of Manual Optimization
"If I'm a brand with 500+ SKUs and selling across 20 retailers...it's manually impossible to optimize everything. That's where AI steps in."
Sai Koppala [08:34] -
On Evolving Team Skills
"AI is an extremely powerful force that can streamline work, helping humans transition to more of the strategic and collaboration kind of work."
Sai Koppala [19:27] -
On the Future of Brand–Retailer Collaboration
"I foresee a world where AI agents on both sides—retailer and brand—work together, streamlining collaboration and updates automatically."
Sai Koppala [21:36] -
On Agility & Leadership
"A culture of psychological safety lets people experiment…that’s how you find what really works for your business."
Sai Koppala [23:02]
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 01:12 — Introduction: Shifting from reactive to intelligent retail
- 03:04 — Sai explains how AI is rewriting the P&L playbook
- 05:31 — Exploring AI's role in enhancing consumer trust and nuanced pricing
- 07:21 — Real-world AI use cases: Data signals, campaign optimization, Prime Day results
- 10:13 — AI teammates: From dashboards to automated action
- 14:26 — Redefining KPIs in the age of AI-driven stability
- 17:15 — Transparency, customer loyalty, and trust as strategic assets
- 18:50 — Human skillsets for the AI-powered retail organization
- 20:43 — Predictions: AI agents driving streamlined brand–retailer collaboration
- 22:53 — Leadership and agility: Building teams for experimentation and growth
Final Takeaways
The conversation between Greg Kihlström and Sai Koppala is a must-listen for marketers, CMOs, and digital commerce leaders navigating intense market pressures. The key message: AI is not just a tool to automate tactics or crunch data. It’s remaking the fabric of retail operations, elevating the role of human decision-making, and empowering brands to strengthen both profits and consumer trust. Sai’s vision for the future is optimistic—one where AI agents make brands and retailers more collaborative, efficient, and resilient than ever.