The dominant subjects at the recent eTail Boston e-commerce and omnichannel retail conference were the rapid emergence of agentic AI and TikTok as digital retail tools. One area where agentic AI is taking hold is personalization. Erica Randerson, chief digital officer of Edible Brands and GM of Edible.com, said that agentic AI enables her company to serve relevant content by understanding customer intent and making recommendations based on it. Feliz Papich, senior VP of digital technology, experience & insights at Crocs Inc., said agentic AI is enabling Crocs to read customers in the moment and ensure the dynamic relevancy of recommended products. She added that acquisition costs of agentic AI technology is down and retailers can use “lightweight tools” for enhanced personalization. Agentic AI is also streamlining the resolution of customer complaints via automated chatbot. Steven Yang, GM, North America of VOC Inc., said that agentic AI resolution engines offer autonomous decision-making with contextual understanding, enabling the execution of complete workflows end-to-end and independent management of issues across channels. As evidence, Yang cited the experience of global footwear brand Amerlife, which leveraged the VOC Solvea AI agent to automatically resolve half of its customer issues at 85% accuracy, reducing manual workload and accelerating complaint resolution. Javier Corral Jr., VP product strategy of Netcore Unbxd, said that adoption of agentic AI will eventually lead to fully autonomous e-commerce including near-real-time updates of structured and unstructured data from all enterprise touchpoints which will lead to AI-driven decision autonomy, and eventually autonomous e-commerce. Although TikTok currently faces a ban, the general outlook on its utility as a social commerce channel here was quite bullish. During her fireside chat, Papich described the “massive halo effect” the video-focused social media app has for Crocs. “TikTok drives direct sales, it impacts sales on other channels,” said Papich. “You want to create an environment where influencers will be. It’s not just transactional.” Kristina Nolan, VP, media services of digital marketing agency DMI Partners, echoed Papich’s observation about the app’s value as a tool to spread awareness. “TikTok is an engine of discovery,” said Nolan. “You must use it through that lens. It’s a platform in its infancy. Onboarding for sales is more complex than for other platforms.” Jake Karls, co-founder of healthy snack brand Mid-Day Squares, said since his company is Canadian it cannot sell products on TikTok, but still leverages the app to bring in customers, especially through the use of influencers. “A TikTok creator network amplifies your brand voice. You need a creator engine.” Nolan and Karls agreed that a major benefit of engaging influencers and creators on TikTok is the ability to develop brand advocates who in many cases will help spread the word about your products without being paid.