Retail companies are increasing their investment in artificial intelligence (AI) as the technology has evolved quickly over the past 12 months and is now delivering real proof points for the first time, two speakers from the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said today in remarks at the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Link2026 trade show.
That marks a big change over a year ago, when retail ranked 6th in AI investment behind health care, media, finance, tech, and energy; finishing higher than only education, industrial goods, and professional services. Today, retail ranks third on that list, lagging only tech and finance.
The rise of AI in retail is being driven specifically by agentic AI, which has three best use-cases in the business, according to Yasemin Gunay, a managing director and partner at BCG. They include demand planning, logistics, and cross-functional coordination. In contrast, agentic AI is not yet ready for other applications in the sector such as fully autonomous end to end planning, edge cases with no historical grounding, and “reading minds” to access institutional knowledge, she said.
But the technology can’t do everything. As agentic AI gains a greater role in commerce, supply chain functions gain more leverage as a core competitive advantage, said Roelant Kalhof, also a managing director and partner at BCG. Those functions are: speed, reliability, flexibility, returns, and data, he said.
