One question, four systems
Can I sell this, where is it, and when does it arrive. It is the most common question in retail and almost no retailer can answer it in one place.
- stock accuracy
- order management
- integration
Blog
Why one question needs four systems, what agentic commerce would really need to work, and why returns are the part of retail nobody models.
Your product data was written for a page, not for a question
Catalogue copy is optimised to be scrolled past. Ask it something specific and there is nothing structured underneath to answer from.
- product data
- catalogue
- structured data
What agentic commerce actually needs before it can work
Five unsolved problems sit between a model that can shop and a machine that can buy. Most of what is announced today is a chatbot in front of a normal checkout.
- agentic commerce
- A2A
- standards
Returns are the part of retail nobody models
Every system is designed around goods going out. Goods coming back touch stock, finance, the customer record and somebody's patience, and usually live in a spreadsheet.
- returns
- reverse logistics
- stock
The storefront was never the moat
Most retail software budget goes to the shop layer, which is the most commoditised part of the business and the easiest for a competitor to match.
- e-commerce
- differentiation
- platforms