New York (November 14, 2025) — Retail success this holiday shopping season isn’t merely about discounts. It is about mastering the marketplace algorithms that dictate whether your products are seen by consumers. According to VML’s 2025 Future Shopper Report, brands are preparing for the agentic shopper as the future customer rapidly evolves from the consumer to the combination of the consumer and the intelligent systems acting on their behalf. These algorithms are the gatekeepers today, and AI assistants are becoming the next layer of influence. For high-stakes events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday where discovery and purchase largely happen online, success hinges on embracing an algorithmic-first mindset while preparing for an agentic future.

To kick off the holiday shopping season, VML launched its Marketplace Holiday Playbook whitepaper showing how brands can win the algorithm this holiday season to get their products discovered, curated and purchased by intelligent systems acting on consumers’ behalf.

The VML Future Shopper Report highlights a significant and growing consumer appetite for this agentic future, with 52 percent of consumers expressing excitement for their own AI that can act on their behalf when shopping.

“The digital shelf is fast becoming the agentic shelf where AI intermediaries decide what is visible, relevant and credible. This shift demands a strategic re-evaluation ahead of the holiday season. Brands need to optimize for the algorithms shaping discovery today and begin preparing for the agents that will influence visibility tomorrow,” said Chance Chapman, EVP, Growth, Innovation and Retail Media, and North America Marketplace and eRetail Lead, VML.

To win the algorithmic game, and to prepare for the agentic era, brands must master several interconnected pillars of the digital experience. This goes beyond simple price adjustments to influence the AI that governs the digital shelf.

• Product Information Quality – The Foundation of Algorithmic Trust: Algorithms thrive on rich, accurate data to rank and recommend products. The VML Future Shopper Report underscores that consumers demand accurate descriptions and high-quality media, with 90 percent of shoppers rating accurate product descriptions as an important factor when shopping online. This directly impacts item health and your product’s visibility in automated discovery engines.

• Retail Media and Visibility: Retail media is the accelerator and strategic lever to ensure optimized products gain the necessary visibility within crowded marketplaces. Retail media directly influences the algorithms that govern product placement and recommendations.

• Pricing and Value (Algorithmic Appeal): Price remains a top consideration for consumers. In fact, 92 percent of shoppers in the VML 2025 Future Shopper Report say the price of an item is important when shopping online, making it the number one factor.

Now in its 9th Annual Year, VML’s Future Shopper Report surveyed over 25,000 shoppers across 16 countries. VML releases its Tomorrow's Commerce report in December and annual Future 100 Trends Study in February 2026.