Retail in the age of AI was the overarching theme of the 2026 Shoptalk Spring event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Executives, including Anca Marola, Sephora’s global chief digital officer; Sven Gerjets, Gap’s chief technology officer; and Niraj Shah, Wayfair’s CEO and co-chair, highlighted the increasing relevance of integrating AI into a company’s operations.

In addition to AI, another point rang loud and clear throughout the three-day retail conference: social media is integral to organic consumer product search.

Media executives, such as Travis Katz, YouTube’s GM & VP of shopping; Steve Huffman, Reddit’s co-founder and CEO; and Matt Madrigal, Pinterest’s chief technology officer, discussed the growing importance of social media platforms being used as search tools.

Visions for the future of marketing & branding

In an era of the internet increasingly flooded with AI-generated content, some customers can become fed up or overwhelmed when trying to separate the fake from the real, said Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO of Reddit.

“There are an infinite number of places online where you can get information about products, but the challenge is that there are so few places that you [the consumer] can trust. It seems like trust is actually going down around the internet, as almost every place you would go for product reviews, information is sanitized, manicured and gamified,” Huffman said.

This is where platforms like Reddit, a social news aggregation and discussion platform, come into play.

“The rest of the internet is creating this context for Reddit to stand out as the thing people trust the most is their friends, their family and the people they know in real life… We’re up in there with people you actually know, and there’s a pretty wide gap before you get to all of the other places online,” he added.

Also, because of the wealth of opinions and comments on Reddit, the platform has become a rich source of information for AI to learn from and to help gather insights to answer consumer questions.

To illustrate brands tapping into the power of authenticity via Reddit, Huffman cited a marketing campaign orchestrated by technology giant SharkNinja.

Among its many content topics, Reddit is known for thousands of users, ranging from novices to professionals, who share cooking- and recipe-focused commentary.

To promote an ice cream maker, SharkNinja ran an advertising campaign on Reddit in which it asked users to design an ice cream flavor they would create using the specific SKU. The campaign immediately drew over 4,000 flavor suggestions and helped grow SharkNinja’s awareness by the tens of thousands.

“Coming out of the era of social media into the era of AI, there is a demand for more authentic and genuine places to engage and interact,” Huffman said.

Using AI to amplify personalization

When Pinterest first launched onto the digital scene in 2010, the platform was primarily used as a digital pinboard for organizing online images.

What it has evolved into is a major resource for brands to showcase their products in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and organically engaging.

Matt Madrigal, Pinterest’s chief technology officer, said, “The foundation of the product itself is all about visual search. [Essentially], how you think about discovery has evolved. You see search fragmentation more than ever before, as users are no longer going to a single place to search. User behavior is changing, where it’s much more natural and multimodal. Oftentimes, people will start with an image or an idea of a feeling, and that’s where Pinterest has really continued to invest in visual search and personalization.”

Madrigal explained that the visual search platform has invested heavily in AI to improve the sense of actionability for consumers searching for products, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

While consumers sometimes go to Pinterest to search for a specific product, they are often researching niche interests, such as mid-century modern furniture. Madrigal pointed out that they will often come across a product they like and, thanks to Pinterest’s actionability investments, can more easily buy the exact product or a highly similar one.

“Pinterest drives over 1.7 billion outbound clicks, so when users are ready to take that action on the inspiration they find, they can do that,” Madrigal said.

Over the next few years, Madrigal predicted that the future of shopping will become much more visual.

He explained that while people may start with keywords, they often only decide on a product once they see the right option.

“Pinterest is really built for this next version of what AI shopping is going to look like, and we’ll continue to invest in what makes the user experience special.”

Creators, brands and the future of shopping

Closing the final day of the conference, Travis Katz, YouTube’s GM & VP of shopping, and Jessica Alba, actress and founder of The Honest Company, discussed the power of storytelling on social media to connect with shoppers and sell products.

When asked about the future of social shopping, Katz said it will be centred on creators.

“Creators have created this sense of authenticity and have basically become the ultimate filter for people’s buying decisions,” Katz said.

Because people trust creators and listen to them in the same way they listen to their friends. This is not a niche happening, as some people may think. Today, there are people watching roughly 110 million hours of shopping-related content on YouTube every single day. There’s an entire universe of shopping going on, from unboxings to product reviews to ‘get ready with me’ videos. As a brand or a retailer, if you’re not in the conversation, you’re missing out.

“The big opportunity is to figure out how to put yourself in that conversation. Whether you’re trying to buy ads around content creators or engaging with the creators directly, you definitely want to be in the conversation. That is how people are making their decisions today.”

Alba, who largely centered brand awareness and sales strategies around the influence of content creators, reflected on the power of organically created content to connect with consumers.

From the beginning of The Honest Company’s journey, the brand focused on building genuine relationships with content creators by sending products to those who would resonate with it and wanted to organically create content about the brand.

As these relationships developed, Alba said it was important to give creators creative freedom within some structure to authentically share their connection to the brand and inspire others to explore its products.

Katz added that, in his work with YouTube, the most successful content is created by creators who have built sustained relationships with the brands they promote.

“We’ve seen that these creator-led videos convert about 30 per cent better than a traditional ad created, so that is pretty game-changing. It’s also often less expensive than paying an agency to create a video for you, and it performs better and feels more authentic,” he said.

Whether it is via Pinterest, Reddit or YouTube, consumers are seeking content that feels genuine and helps showcase products more organically. If retailers do not take note of this shift in consumer behavior, they risk missing out.

“We’re in this moment where you’re going to just see an incredible amount of innovation, and I think we should all just hang on for the ride, enjoy the moment and really lean in.”

Further reading: Shoptalk Vegas Day 3: Macy’s, New Balance and Jessica Alba discuss reinvention