Commerce Riff with Sri & PVSB - June 30, 2026

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0:51Sri: That's salesforce.com slash consumer goods. It's June 30th, 2026, and this is the Commerce Riff brought to you by the CPG Guys. Ten minutes of news stories that matter in commerce this week. We're back after a short hiatus. We took while away working can lines down in the south of France. I'm your co-host, PBSB. I'm joined as always by Papa Entourage, as we came to call him on La Croisette. the father of pop stars, co-founders of Think Blue Consulting. He is the man known as Sri. Sri, what's up? Happy to be back from what I would call arguably was a very long week at Ken. And we accomplished quite a bit, you and me.

1:31I think the news on the street is the CPG guys own the cross set. So congratulations to you, Suzanne, all our sponsors. I want to say thank you for the awesome partnership.

1:40Sri: Let's not forget our friends, Nicole and Dom. They were big helps to us as well in the background. Great to have Nicole on stage and Dom helping us haul ice and do other things, right? All right, let's kick things off with how AI influenced the annual Prime Day sales this year. During this year's four-day Amazon Prime Day sales event, consumers were more likely to search for products using AI, and consumers who were steered to retail sites by AI were more likely to make a purchase, according to Prime Day data released today by Adobe. Adobe, which analyzed digital transactions on U.S. retail sites during the four Prime days, saw a marked shift this year in the ability of AI-powered chat and browsers to drive sales.

2:21Sri: Shoppers who use AI to find product information and deals had a 40 % better conversion or purchase rate than non-AI channels such as paid search, email, and social media. That is in sharp contrast to last year's prime event where conversion from AI-directed traffic was 23 % worse than other channels. While AI still generates a modest volume of online traffic compared to other channels, the new figures show AI is shortening the time it takes for consumers to confidently get the information they need, Adobe reported. AI-powered chat services and browsers have cemented their role in the online shopping experience, providing utility for shoppers who value the speed and convenience.

3:00Sri: Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said when releasing Adobe's report on the first day of Prime Day. But Pandya noted a big problem for retailers, that is, sizable portions of retailers' websites, up to 46 % in some cases, are not readable by machines. That is horrible. That problem, Pandya said, limits their visibility across AI surfaces and will push brands to invest in more AI-friendly content, such as tutorials, how-to guides, customer service pages, and more. Prime Day also highlights the importance of retailers being able to meet the increased demands of a sales event like Prime Day and to deliver the correct items in the promised timeline.

3:40Sri: Sometimes that has become more important in the age of AI, Omar Khari, CEO of e-commerce and supply chain platform Logic Broker said. Quote, the same connected data infrastructure that allows retailers to manage inventory suppliers, orders and fulfillment real time during Prime Day is what makes products discoverable and trustworthy in the AI driven commerce. Kari said, yet many retailers remain too focused on how to get recommended by AI when the bigger question is whether they've earned the trust to keep being recommended at all. Adobe's been tracking the growth of AI-directed traffic to retail sites for more than a year during the first five months of the year through May.

4:19Sri: AI traffic to U.S. retailer sites increased by 235 % year-over-year. During the Prime Day period, June 23 to 26, AI-directed traffic was up 89 % year over year. Three, over to you. Of course, the very next topic, Peter, has to be the details of the Prime Day numbers. So I'm going to get into that. But I want to thank our partners at hotwire.com for efficiently sending me and Peter the details of the numbers literally a few days after Prime Day has been executed. So again, I'll call out hotwire.com and say thank you. Adobe released final figures for the Prime Day event, recapping June 23rd to 26th of 2026, profiling consumer spend and other trends across U.S.

4:58retailers. Adobe's report provides the most comprehensive view into U.S. e-commerce by analyzing direct transactions online, covering 1 trillion visits that happen to U.S. retail websites and 100 million SKUs, 18 product categories. U.S. retailers are of 26.4 billion whopping dollars in online spend from June 23rd to June 26th, representing a 9.3 % year-over-year growth compared to 2025, trending even above Adobe's initial forecast, which was 9%. This is changing the shape of the summer shopping season, which is beginning to rival the holiday period. As a comparison point, consumers spent$32.45 billion across Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday in 2025, all encompassing what we call the holiday season.

5:41Mobile continues to be the dominant transaction channel, driving 54.2 % of the online sales versus desktop during the Prime Day event, which represents a$14.2 billion of overall spend an all-time high. The numbers are wild, Peter. Competitive discounts drove online demand as shoppers have been conditioned to wait for big promotional pH rate buy-on products. They've had their eyes on, and Amazon makes it easy by save for later. Consumers found great deals that are on par with last year's Prime Day event with discounts for electronics speaking at 24 % of listed price. Greater than by 1 % versus Eurogo.

6:16Strong discounts were seen in apparel at 24%, toys at 20%, televisions at 19%, and appliances at 16%, furniture at 16%, computers at 13%, and sporting with the 10%. Some consumers also opted for greater payment flexibility during this event. Buy now, pay later orders accumulated for 6.6 % of online orders, amounting$2.1 billion during the same period, also representing a 9.5 % growth year-over-year. Here are more details. Strong discounts, though many shoppers should trade up to higher ticket items. All categories tracked by Adobe, they share the most expensive goods, increased by 19 % compared to average levels here today.

6:53In electronics, they share the most expensive culture rolls by 51%. Consumers also treated up in categories such as toys up 37%, clients 30%, personal care products 27%, furniture 24%, sporting goods 24%, apparel 11%. I think we can clearly say Prime Day is here and it's going to grow year over year. So at the category level, online sales were driven by electronics up 120%. This is average daily sales in June 2026. Appliance, 90%. Home improvement in tools, 70%. Home and garden, 65%. And even furniture and bedding up 55%. At the product level, let's get into some details. Health and wellness. Online purchases of smart watches were up 120%.

7:33Exercise equipment up 85%. Active wear, 50 % for kids. Back to school shopping remained the sales driver with uptick seen across kids. Kids apparel at 140%. Backpacks, 115%. Lunchboxes, 105%. Car seats, 140%. These numbers are just staggering. Purchases for the home. Consumers took advantage of deals to refresh their living spaces. Online purchase of the bedroom. Bathroom linings were up on 30%. Mattresses up 80%. Bedroom furniture up 45%. Bathroom furniture, 65%. Bathroom fixtures, 55%. Cookware, 75%. Kitchen by 50%. Kitchen and dining furniture, 40%. Kitchen fixtures, 35%. everyday essential personal hygiene products like oral care shampoo and type of spend were 125 and even household goods were up 60 such as trash bags detergent paper products summer travel as some consumers prepare for upcoming travel season online purchases were up in areas like luggage up 95 car seats up 140 noise cancelling headphones up 155 portable charges up 70 travel size toiletries up 70 % and portable fans 55 % Peter.

8:37This is Alibaba singles day in the making. It's been brewing for years. This year, the numbers were whopping. Any merchant, especially the grocery ones who do not understand the relevance of Prime Day. I'm sorry, Peter, I'm going to use the word you've talked about. Luddites. Get on the bandwagon. You don't have a choice.

8:54Sri: Yeah, that's a lot of data you shared, Sri. We'll try and put a link to the report in the liner notes of this episode so people can see it on their own. All right, from our friends at Retail Dive. Ask CanLion's attendees what was top of mind at the show, and safe money is on artificial intelligence is the answer. Part of that is doing some of the festival attention-grabbing new entrants, but platforms and publishers nearly across the board are eager to demonstrate that their bets on the space, including an agentic AI, are moving from the realm of hype into reality. Amazon this week unveiled a new ad format, Alexa Plus Agentic Ads, that underlines to focus on leveraging AI to deliver more tangible outcomes for brands.

9:31Sri: Customers that are served an ad can strike up a voice chat, way different buying options, and complete their transaction without having to leave the Alexa interface. In a demo shown by Amazon, a woman who is interested in getting concert tickets to see Jill Scott refines her search by noting the occasion as her mom's birthday and that she's open to paying more for premium seating options. She eventually finds front row seats on Ticketmaster, all via voice commands. Papa John's and The Orchard, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, are early partners on Alexa Plus Agentic Ads, which are currently running in beta on Amazon's Echo Show devices.

10:04Sri: Alexa Plus became publicly available earlier this year following a beta period in 2025. Toward the end of last year, Amazon confirmed to TechCrunch that more than 1 million people had access to the generative AI assistant, according to information shared by Amazon. Alexa is used in tens of millions of homes. Amazon plans to bring the format to Fire TV as well, where it will live in the carousel-like feature rotator experience on the home screen while the testing period is in early days. Executives emphasize they don't view Alexa Plus agentic ads as a limited experiment or theoretical use case.

10:36Sri: Quote, we have ad products that are live today. This isn't something we're talking about or saying we're working on it, said Charlotte Maines, Amazon's VP of device content and advertising. In an interview Wednesday, Alexa Plus agentic ads do not require rigid phrases to know when to complete an action, according to Maine's, and can pick up on subtler cues. Amazon sees the conversational nature of the technology as a way to eventually realize more personalized, relevant ads, echoing where other AI platforms believe they can deliver value to brands. In Papa John's case, Alexa may remember the customer's favorite topping from a prior conversation and surface those as a recommendation for repeat orders.

11:15Sri: This is literally the first thing of so many more opportunities for innovation because Alexa Plus just does all the agentic AI AI Systems is new, said Mainz. My job is to make sure that as customer engagement grows, advertisers can participate in those high intent conversations. Can Lions may also make for a crowded AI playing field, but Amazon sees an advantage over upstarts thanks to the same assets that have powered its advertising division into a$70 billion powerhouse. Those include an ad robust demand side platform, established measurement capabilities, and a rich transaction level data. The advertisers can be as involved or not involved as they want in terms of creative team on how they generate these assets.

11:56Sri: But we offer a plug and play solution, said Mainz. We do have foundations, so we are able to offer a lot of data on how creative performs historically. Sri, close it out, would you? That's for sure, Peter. AI dominated the conversations with Amazon, certainly did. So let's close this week to some other highlights from CanLines for the large retail media networks. Remember, Amazon just executed its annual upfront event. So I'm going to talk to what Walmart Connect, Kroger, Christian Marketing, and Albertsons Media Collective barked through the event. Walmart Connect and Vizio showcased the next evolution of commerce media advancing a creativity-powered commerce strategy that helps brands move beyond traditional advertising to deliver fully integrated shoppable experience on the biggest screen in the home.

12:37It's focused on turning cultural moments into actual measurable growth. At the core of this approach is Lightbox Creative Solutions, Walmart Connect's in-house creative solution studio. It develops immersive, omni-channel experiences that connect inspiration to purchase through interactive and store activations, social-first storytelling, and premium connected TV experience. With your vision, I'm part of that Walmart ecosystem. Walmart Connect can extend brands reach to the largest screen in the home. All right, Kroger Precision Marketing is the latest retail media network to introduce an advertising collab with TikTok, enabling advertisers to reach Kroger shoppers directly within the TikTok advertising platform.

13:12Their capability makes it easy for brands to activate trusted retail signals on one of today's most influential discovery environments. Advertisers will now be able to reach relevant audiences using TikTok's self-service advertising platform as well. The new collaboration comes to the creator economy. The new collaboration comes as the creator economy continues to reshape our consumers to discover products. From nano-influencers to celebrities, creator-driven content is fueling product discovery and influencing purchasing discussions across categories for CPG brands. Influencer-first media plans are an increasingly important way to earn trust, deepen relevance, and grow sales across the board with consumers.

13:50Albertsons Media Collective is the third I have. They unveiled the industry's first branded entertainment model, and I personally love this one. It was co-developed with none other than P &G. They opened a new lane for brands inside its retail media network and pioneered a category for the industry. Episodic, scripted, branded entertainment co-catered with the retail shopper intelligence and distributed across the Albertsons Media Collective platform. Procter & Gamble is a strategic co-development partner for the inaugural work for this model and its VCO stockholders. The result is a shift in what retail media can be, not a place to run an ad after it's made, but a place where content is curated and distributed.

14:23The Retain collaboration with Albert's Media Collective is further investing and amplifying the co-stocking across its owned and social media channels. Over to you, Peter, to wrap us up.

14:33Sri: Well, that is a wrap on this week's Commerce Riff. Before we go, make sure you've caught our most recent episode of the CPG Guys featuring Matt Foley, VP of Marketing for Brand Oreos, talking about the collab with BTS. Tomorrow's episode is with Kiri Masters, our own fun behind-the-scenes picture of what happened at Cannes Lions. If any of this sparks a thought, drop in the comments. We read them. If you're not already following us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, now is the time. That's all we got. Take care. The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only.

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