Agentic AI, AEO, and Retail Media: What Brands Need to Know in 2026 | Digital Shelf Insider

Agentic AI, AEO, and Retail Media: What Brands Need to Know in 2026 | Digital Shelf Insider

Aaron Conant [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronconant/] talks to 20 to 30 brand leaders every single week. As Co-Founder and Chief Digital Strategist at BWG Connect [https://bwgconnect.com/], he has a unique vantage point on what digital commerce and digital shelf teams are actually worried about right now. Shreshta Joy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreshta-joy/] and Aaron unpack the biggest macro anxieties facing brand leaders in 2026: the looming shift to agentic AI, the scramble to optimize product description content for LLMs, why SKU-level profitability analysis is no longer optional, and the retail media measurement problem that even the largest CPG data science teams cannot solve on their own. Aaron also shares his take on why copy-pasting Amazon PDPs to Walmart is still shockingly common, why brands need a dedicated AI R&D budget, and how networking with other brand leaders remains the single most underrated move in digital commerce. In this episode: (00:00) Trailer (01:01) Intro (02:11) Meet Aaron Conant, Co-Founder, BWG Connect (03:06) What Is the Biggest Challenge for Brand Leaders Right Now? (04:39) How Should Brand Content Evolve for LLMs and AI Agents? (09:11) Are Amazon and Walmart Changing Listing Rules for Agentic AI? (12:00) MetricsCart Spotlight (13:09) Omnichannel Visibility vs SKU-Level Profitability (16:48 Do Brands Still Copy-Paste Amazon PDPs to Walmart? (19:09) How Should Brands Measure Retail Media Incrementality? (24:30) Common Mistakes in Digital Shelf Tech Stack Selection (29:00) How to Separate Real AI Tools from Marketing Fluff (32:48) Outro  Digital Shelf Insider is the podcast by MetricsCart that explores how brands win on the digital shelf. Hosted by Shreshta Joy, each episode features candid conversations with brand leaders, e-commerce experts, digital shelf strategists, and industry specialists about the trends, tools, and tactics shaping online retail. Subscribe for new episodes every week.

Do We Lack "Qualified" Women? Here’s the Truth About Women in CPG Boardrooms | Digital Shelf Insider

Women make up a massive share of consumer purchasing decisions. So why are they still underrepresented in the boardrooms of the brands they buy from? In this episode of Digital Shelf Insider, host Shreshta Joy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreshta-joy/] sits down with Kierstin Rielly [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierstinrielly/], CEO of Women on Boards Project [https://www.wobproject.com/], to unpack why gender diversity in consumer brand boardrooms is not a supply problem but a demand problem. With 8,000 qualified women in their database and only 77 placements, Kierstin explains how the real bottleneck sits with investors, founders, and CEOs who control the open seats. This is a different kind of Digital Shelf Insider episode. It is for the women in the brand world. And for the decision makers who should be listening. Kierstin shares how Women on Boards Project works exclusively within the consumer vertical, placing women on for-profit private company boards across CPG, apparel, consumer tech, healthcare tech, and four-wall businesses. She breaks down the myths holding first-time board members back, why the term "board ready" needs to go, and what Malcolm Gladwell's "magic third" concept means for stronger boardroom decision-making. In this episode: (00:00) Trailer (01:07) Intro (02:03) Greetings (Kierstin Rielly) (02:20) Women on Boards Project: Why Focus on Consumer Brands? (06:06) Shifting the Corporate Mindset: Demand vs. Supply of “Qualified Women” (09:50) Navigating Broken Corporate Systems & Debunking Board Myths (14:00) MetricsCart Spotlight (15:09) Empowering First-Time Board Members & The Operator Edge (19:33) Disrupting Groupthink: Gender Diversity & "The Magic Third" (22:08) Outro Whether you are a brand operator wondering how to land your first board seat or an investor rethinking your board composition strategy, this conversation is worth your time.  The Digital Shelf Insider podcast by MetricsCart brings real conversations with brand leaders, e-commerce experts, and industry specialists about what's actually working on the digital shelf. New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

How To Scale a Premium Skincare Brand Without Sacrificing Its Luxury DNA? | Ft. Ankit Patel

Luxury skincare is a trillion-dollar market where most brands burn through cash chasing attention. So how does a premium brand grow fast without slashing prices or diluting its image? In this episode of Digital Shelf Insider, host Shreshta Joy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreshta-joy/] sits down with Ankit Patel [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-patel-ecommerce/], SVP of Global Growth at U Beauty, to unpack the real mechanics behind scaling a luxury skincare brand. From Siren Capsule Technology and customer lifetime value to AI-powered product discovery and the one metric most e-commerce leaders are ignoring, this conversation is a must-listen for every e-commerce brand leader. In this episode: (00:00) Trailer (01:02) Intro (02:18) Welcome & Greetings (Ankit Patel) (03:12) Balancing a high-end, exclusive feel with fast growth (04:45) How to market complex science to everyday shoppers? (05:57) MetricsCart Spotlight (07:06) What is the biggest CLV mistake beauty brands make today? (08:42) How do you design subscription programs that make people want to stay? (10:08) How do you sell across Amazon and Sephora without diluting premium value? (11:11) What is the one metric every e-commerce leader should watch? (12:17) How will AI and AEO change product discovery for beauty brands? (14:18) Closing Notes Ankit Patel brings deep expertise in scaling premium beauty brands through data-driven growth strategy, personalization, and operational efficiency. He shares his perspective on why profitability should come before growth-at-all-costs thinking, how brands should think about Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and why the department store relationship model still matters in digital commerce.  The Digital Shelf Insider podcast by MetricsCart brings real conversations with brand leaders, e-commerce operators, and industry experts about what's actually working on the digital shelf. New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one. Are you a luxury beauty brand trying to scale across e-commerce without losing control over how your product shows up, is priced, or is perceived? MetricsCart [https://metricscart.com/] is an enterprise-grade digital commerce intelligence platform that tracks pricing, availability, content, promotions, search visibility, and reviews across major retailers and marketplaces. It delivers real-time, SKU-level insights that help premium brands protect their positioning while scaling, whether that's spotting an unauthorized discount that undermines your full-price strategy, catching content inconsistencies across platforms before they confuse shoppers, or flagging a review trend that signals a product experience issue before it damages brand equity. Brands like Mattel, Illy, PVH, and P&G use MetricsCart to move from reactive reporting to confident, data-backed decisions that protect revenue, boost visibility, and drive growth across every digital shelf.

How Are Global Brands Planning Digital Shelf Strategy for 2026? | Ft. Mark Koster (VML) and Rohan Paul Philip (MetricsCart)

What does it actually take to win the digital shelf in 2026, and why are most brands still getting it wrong? In Season 2 Episode 3 of the Digital Shelf Insider Podcast, our host, Shreshta Joy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreshta-joy/], is in conversation with Mark Koster [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-koster-44b31321/], Domain Lead Digital at VML [https://www.vml.com/], and Rohan Paul Philip [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohan-paul-philip/], Lead, Product & Strategy at MetricsCart, for a no-holds-barred breakdown of how global consumer brands should be thinking about their digital shelf strategy right now. We're talking real challenges; fragmented tech stacks, underused analytics platforms, siloed teams, and the constant struggle of getting senior stakeholders to see the digital shelf as more than just "the e-commerce team's problem."  Mark walks us through a live client example where VML built a full digital shelf strategy in just 8 weeks, complete with 100+ ready-to-execute projects. Rohan pulls back the curtain on why platform adoption fails and what MetricsCart is doing differently to keep brands plugged in when it actually matters. We also get into the big conversations: AI agent commerce, why price monitoring is about to get even more critical amid global economic shifts, and the essential groundwork, data governance, single source of truth, connected processes, that make or break everything else.  In this episode: (00:00) Trailer (01:00) Intro (02:00) Meet Mark Koster (VML) & Rohan Paul Philip (MetricsCart) (02:47) The Most Common Digital Shelf Challenges Brands Face (06:15) Platform Adoption: Why Brands Aren't Logging In When It Matters (08:21) The Data Access Problem Nobody Talks About (10:00) Mid Roll Break (10:34) Where to Start When Everything Feels Broken (14:16) Understanding Workflows Before Building Dashboards (16:01) What VML Looks for in a Digital Shelf Analytics Partner (19:38) Which Conversion KPIs Should Brands Actually Prioritize? (21:19) Price Monitoring, MAP Violations & Brand Perception (24:14) Building Brands for the Future (29:13) AI in E-Commerce & Agent Commerce  (34:00) How Brands Should Approach AI in Strategy & Planning (37:29) Key Takeaways & Final Thoughts Subscribe to the Digital Shelf Insider for weekly conversations with the sharpest minds in e-commerce, marketplace strategy, and brand growth; brought to you by MetricsCart. What happens when your top SKU goes out of stock while you're still paying for ads, or an authorized reseller undercuts your MAP pricing, and you don't find out for weeks?  MetricsCart [https://metricscart.com/] is an enterprise-grade digital commerce intelligence platform that tracks pricing, availability, content, promotions, search visibility, and reviews across major retailers and marketplaces. It delivers real-time, SKU-level insights that help brands catch the gaps that silently drain revenue, whether that's a content compliance issue on your top 50 SKUs, a price violation eroding brand perception, or an early review signal flagging a product defect before it escalates. Brands like Mattel, Illy, PVH, and P&G use MetricsCart to move from reactive reporting to confident, data-backed decisions that protect revenue, boost visibility, and drive growth across every digital shelf.

The Unsexy Side of Amazon: Listing Optimization, Flat Files & Catalog Management | Ft. Vanessa Hung

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 2 of the Digital Shelf Insider podcast by MetricsCart! This one's been a long time coming. Shreshta has been following Vanessa Hung's work since the podcast launched in late 2024, and this conversation was well worth the wait. Vanessa Hung [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-hung/] is the CEO of  ⁨Online Seller Solutions⁩ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/online-seller-solutions/]  and one of the most sought-after voices in the Amazon space when it comes to the technical, behind-the-scenes catalog work that most sellers either avoid or don't even know exists. Have you even looked at your flat files lately? Do you know what Amazon's internal systems have been doing to your backend attributes? Do you realize that the listing you think you own might no longer be yours? Vanessa and our host, Shreshta Joy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreshta-joy/], get into all of it. Flat files and category listing reports hijacks, what they are, why they matter, and why most brands are intimidated by them for no good reason (especially now that AI makes the process so much easier). Whether you're managing 15 SKUs or 15,000, this conversation is going to change how you think about the foundation of your Amazon business. In this episode: (0:00) Trailer (1:04) Intro (2:00) Guest Greetings: Welcoming Vanessa Hung (2:29) Invisible Operational Errors Draining Margins (5:34) The UI vs. Flat Files Dilemma (13:03) Mid-Roll Break: Metriscart Marketplace Intelligence (14:13) Managing Big Catalogs & Finding Core Attributes (21:01) When Should a Brand Hire a Technical Partner? (25:06) Optimizing Listings for AI Bots (Rufus & Cosmo) (33:54) Overcoming Error 8541 & Contribution Authority Loss (39:32) How Catalog Management Impacts BSR & Best Seller Badges (43:01) Top 3 Focus Areas for the 2026 AI Paradigm Shift (50:41) Outro Subscribe to the Digital Shelf Insider for weekly conversations with the sharpest minds in e-commerce, marketplace strategy, and brand growth; brought to you by MetricsCart. Is your product content telling one story on the frontend and a completely different one in the backend? MetricsCart is a digital commerce intelligence platform that helps brands take back control of their product content across every major retailer and marketplace. From real-time content compliance monitoring and listing accuracy checks to tracking unauthorized changes, missing attributes, and content discrepancies at the SKU level, MetricsCart gives you the visibility to catch what's broken before it costs you. Brands like Mattel, Illy, PVH, and P&G trust MetricsCart to keep their digital shelf clean, compliant, and conversion-ready. If your listings are supposed to be your storefront, shouldn't you know exactly what's on them? Learn more at metricscart.com [https://metricscart.com/].