PwC's James Lewis: agentic AI will reward those retailers who master the art of fusing logic and emotion
When it comes to agentic AI, the future belongs to those who can walk the knife edge between logic and emotion. So says James Lewis, Director at PwC.
Lewis was speaking in the aftermath of Shoptalk Europe 2026, which took place in Barcelona, Spain last week and included him presenting at a PwC UK session: Retail Experience in an Agentic Era.
Agentic commerce was everywhere at the event, he observed. Retailers need to consider the control of demand, loyalty and trust. For years, retailers have optimised around search, media, marketplaces, apps, stores and CRM. The next battleground is AI interpretation.
Lewis said: "When a customer asks an LLM for help with a mission, it will decide what matters, which brands to include, how to explain the trade-offs, and where to send the customer next. That makes LLM discoverability a board level growth question."
"58% of consumers start their shopping journey with AI. You need to know if your brand is: Visible? Are LLMs mentioning your brand?; Recommended? Are you ranked first vs competitors; Positively Positioned? Is the sentiment of the responses displaying your brand in a positive light?"
Lewis concluded by noting that the aforementoned PwC session was an exploration of what this means for the retail experience. AI will reward logic: evidence, relevance, price, availability, fulfilment, returns, reviews and operational proof. Customers still respond to emotion: confidence, identity, reassurance, service, delight and the feeling that a brand understands them.
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
