Retail 2026: AI Adoption Accelerates in 2026

Forget omnichannel – when it comes to deploying AI tools in the next 12 months, retailers are striving for omnipresence, omnicompetence, and maybe even omnipotence. 

That’s only a slight exaggeration. AI will be used by retailers to enhance omnichannel capabilities and to optimize supply chains. AI will be used by consumers to discover, research, price, and even purchase products.  

AI was a big deal in retail last year, and it will have an even larger impact on the industry in 2026. This was made evident at this year’s Retail’s Big Show where the National Retail Federation (NRF) dedicated an entire “AI Stage” to presentations that covered topics such as   

• What’s coming down the pike regarding Agentic AI 
• The next generation of AI innovation 
• Leveraging AI to rethink how to serve and engage customers 
• Inspiration for taking AI initiatives to the next level 
• Fundamentally reimagining retail operations with AI 

NRF’s roundup of 2026 retail trends and predictions also emphasizes the importance of AI developments in several areas. First, agentic AI systems and tools will enable the emergence of increasingly autonomous supply chains. These systems can independently forecast demand, reroute shipments mid-transit, and rebalance inventory across hundreds of locations. These capabilities will trigger some interesting questions within tax groups, such as: What tax determination issues arise when inventory is autonomously redirected across state lines? The speed of autonomous supply chain, logistics, and inventory decisions may outpace human-managed workflows, elevating the need for advanced tax automation.  

Second, more product discovery, comparison, and purchases will occur within AI platforms. As these platforms increasingly function like digital marketplaces, transactions that occur within them will give rise to tricky questions regarding who the seller of record is, where the sale legally occurred, and how tax determination systems integrate with conversational interfaces rather than traditional shopping carts.

A third, related point: As AI platforms play a growing role in shopping and purchasing, search rankings and search engine optimization may take a back seat to AI optimization. “Where things get dicey is the potential for these shopping agents to reshape influence away from traditional ad-driven funnels toward AI recommendations,” notes NRF Vice President, Education Strategy Susan Reda, who authored the trend piece. “As shoppers rely more heavily on AI agents, brand visibility becomes upended. Whether or not a retailer’s brand shows up will depend on AI optimization — not just SEO or paid ads — flattening long-standing competitive advantages.” 

Retailers’ and consumers’ growing AI use makes it important for tax teams to understand how their processes and technology stacks can keep pace. Attending NRF events is a good way to build this knowledge; so, too, is reading industry reports and articles. This Oracle Retail Business Insights article lays out how AI drives retail profitability through automated inventory optimization, pricing strategies, and supply chain management.