We did something unique in December 2025 - a weekly virtual debate that featured industry luminaries such as:

Naturally, I was the weekly referee with a whistle and a yellow flag, which I threw occasionally.

Agentic Commerce was not requested, but it sparked significant debate, notably from Matt Ezyk, who noted that brands can be commoditized when an agent or a large language model (LLM) determines what the customer wants. All the money spent on advertising becomes irrelevant, which should make Google, Meta, and Amazon slightly concerned. Brands have many things to do in 2026, but agentic commerce is not going away, and, as I said in my NRF keynote, inaction is not a a strategy.

Persistent low conversion rates are a problem across the industry. Challenges like slow page loads, images not loading, or customers bouncing from pages are signs that additional work is still needed. Make time for experiments, speak with customers, and engage with your teams to build cross-functional relationships. It's the only way through. If you're short on time, catch the shorts from the series for the highlights.

If an AI agent picks the product, does your brand even matter? We’re breaking down the Scayle Debate Series — from the "death" of traditional advertising to why your checkout is still leaking cash. Catch the full series on YouTube.

There is a certain brand of corporate hubris that assumes software can fix anything — even the messy, tactile reality of buying a head of lettuce. Amazon, the company that once promised to revolutionize the grocery aisle with its Just Walk Out wizardry, has effectively admitted that the future of physical retail looks remarkably like the past.

In a move that surprises absolutely no one who has ever actually pushed a shopping cart or worked in retail, the Seattle giant is shuttering underperforming Amazon Fresh and Go locations while separately aggressively expanding the Whole Foods footprint. The grand experiment in cashierless convenience is being traded for a massive expansion of Whole Foods—a brand they didn't build, but bought. It is a retreat dressed up as a "pivot." While they promise 100 new Whole Foods locations and "Daily Shop" outposts, one has to wonder why it took billions in losses to realize that people prefer a curated selection of organic kale over a sensor-laden warehouse.

Amazon keeps chasing the "right economic model" like a dog chasing its tail. For a company that owns our digital lives, they remain curiously illiterate about the analog soul of the neighborhood market. Turns out, you can’t algorithm your way into being the local grocer.

Amazon’s retreat from Fresh and Go locations proves that high-tech wizardry is no substitute for the analog soul of a neighborhood market. Billions in losses later, Seattle is learning that while software can optimize a warehouse, it can’t algorithm its way into the trust required to sell a head of lettuce.

Amazon to Announce Earnings on Thursday, February 5, 2026

Forget the tinsel; Seattle’s technology juggernaut is chasing massive revenues with equally massive investments in AI. As the dust settles on the 2025 holiday sprint, all eyes are on February 5, when Amazon is expected to post a staggering $211.3B in quarterly revenue. It’s a milestone that cements the company not just as a retailer, but as the undisputed utility of modern life.

The real magic, however, isn't happening in the cardboard boxes on your porch. It’s in Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is projected to surge 21% to $34.9B, fueled by an insatiable corporate appetite for AI.

But this dominance comes with a steep price tag. To keep the gears turning, Andy Jassy has signaled a massive $125B annual spend on AI infrastructure and custom silicon. It’s a high-stakes "spend money to make money" play that has squeezed margins and led to a leaner corporate headcount. For investors, the question remains: is this AI-driven expansion a bridge to a trillion-dollar future, or an increasingly expensive throne?