The Back End Is the New Storefront: What AI Agents Mean for Retail Data Strategy

In early March, two major retailers made headlines with strategies that look like opposite bets on the future. Best Buy announced a partnership with OpenAI, opening its product catalog to ChatGPT and supporting Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, positioning itself to be discovered and purchased through AI agents, not just human browsers. Target, meanwhile, announced plans to open more than 30 new physical stores in 2026, backed by a $5 billion capital investment plan that includes expanded fulfillment, food and beverage, and same-day delivery infrastructure built in from the ground up. On the surface, these look like diverging strategies. In this episode of Eventual Consistency, we discuss the case that they're actually two versions of the same underlying bet on where data advantage lives in the next decade of retail. Ross Katz breaks down what it actually takes in the back end for Best Buy to make its product catalog legible to AI agents: clean, structured product data with consistent taxonomy, real-time inventory APIs capable of handling agent-scale request volumes, programmatic pricing that can respond without a human in the loop, and reputation data that feeds trust signals back to the foundation model companies routing purchases. It sounds straightforward. For most retailers sitting on years of technical debt, it isn't. The Target conversation goes deeper than store count. Ross argues that physical stores in the AI era aren't just retail locations, they're data collection infrastructure. The in-store experience becomes the top of a data flywheel that fuels ad targeting, brand loyalty, and fulfillment optimization. The risk for any retailer that goes all-in on agentic commerce without protecting that flywheel? Becoming a fulfillment center for someone else's platform. The episode also tackles the harder strategic question: what happens to the customer relationship when AI agents become the primary interface between buyer and brand? Who owns that relationship? The retailer, or the foundation model company routing the purchase?  About the hosts Ross Katz brings a background in analytics and data strategy, working with companies to cut through the noise and focus on what actually drives business value. With experience spanning industries such as e-commerce, education, biotech, and finance, as well as the evolving landscape of AI-enabled work, he focuses on the intersection of data capabilities and business outcomes. He's particularly interested in how shifts in technology change not just what's possible, but how people think about and use data in their daily work. Jason Bradwell is a seasoned B2B marketing leader, founder of B2B Better and host Pipe Dream, where he explores how modern B2B companies can build media and marketing strategies that drive real revenue and audience growth.  Connect with us:  Sponsor: CorrDyn, a data consultancyConnect with Ross Katz on LinkedInConnect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn