AI in Retail 2026: What Store Leaders Must Know

AI isn't about being smart anymore. It's about being fast. That was the message AI expert Ron Galloway delivered at RetailSpaces, cutting through the hype to explain what retail leaders actually need to know about artificial intelligence in 2026.

"From 1986 to 2022, AI was boring," Galloway said. "Now I have to rewrite my speeches every single week because things are moving that fast."

The Only Thing That Matters: Time

Galloway's entire presentation boiled down to one concept: AI's killer app is time compression. Not accuracy. Not intelligence. Time.

His example: He built an Apple TV app in eight seconds using AI. Without AI, it would have taken him a month. That's not a productivity gain. That's a complete reimagining of what's possible.

The parallel to retail is obvious. Walmart can now get a trending product from social media to store shelves in six weeks using AI. How? They're constantly monitoring social media, data mining the internet for emerging trends, and using AI to compress what used to be a months-long merchandising cycle into weeks.

"Be faster than your competitors at giving customers what they want, when they want it, and where they want it," Galloway said, quoting George Stalk's book "Competing Against Time." That book is required reading for all Apple executives under Tim Cook. There's a reason for that.

The 30% Problem Nobody Talks About

Here's the part most AI evangelists skip: AI lies. About 30% of the time, according to Galloway's experience.

He asked ChatGPT when a competing AI model launched. It confidently said June 2004, with sources. Wrong. When challenged, it changed to January 2024. Also wrong. Finally, it admitted: "I am not an agent. I am a simulator of language. The illusion of intelligence comes from surface fluency, not internal understanding."

The takeaway for retail leaders: Use AI for speed and efficiency, but verify anything important. Build in human oversight for decisions that matter.

The Prompt-to-Purchase Threat

The biggest near-term disruption Galloway sees? Prompt-to-purchase, or P2P.

Right now, if you tell Perplexity AI "I want white tennis shoes for someone who doesn't run much but wants to look cool," it will research options, compare prices, and let you buy directly. No Amazon. No store visit. Just AI doing the shopping for you.

"This threatens brick and mortar through loss of discovery traffic," Galloway warned. "Window shopping. Impulse purchases. All of it."

His advice: Double down on what AI can't deliver. Humanity. Physicality. Locality. These are retail's competitive edges in an AI-driven world.

Make stores destinations, not just transaction points. Build in surprise experiences. Train staff to be experts who create trust. Because while AI can recommend products, it can't replicate walking into a well-designed store and discovering something you didn't know you wanted.

How Fast Are Things Really Moving?

Galloway showed data from a major construction podcast. In 2022, they barely mentioned AI. By 2024, it dominated nearly every episode. That's a complete industry transformation in two years.

The technical progress is even more dramatic. From GPT-2 to GPT-4, AI capabilities grew by two orders of magnitude. That's 100 times more powerful. Not 100% better. 100 times better.

"Things are growing at orders of magnitude per year now," Galloway explained. "We can't hardly keep up."

His prediction: By 2028, agentic AI (AI that breaks tasks into pieces and solves them autonomously) will be standard in retail construction and operations. Or it might happen next year. Nobody really knows because the pace of change is that fast.

What Retail Leaders Should Do Monday Morning

Galloway's practical advice for retail operators:

Embrace AI for time compression. Look for tasks that take hours and find AI tools that can do them in minutes. Route optimization, inventory planning, trend analysis. These are all being transformed right now.

Build human connections. As AI handles more transactions, the value of human expertise and service increases. Train your staff. Empower them to create experiences AI can't replicate.

Design for discovery. If customers can buy anything from their couch, give them reasons to come to your stores. Make them immersive. Make them surprising. Make them worth the trip.

Stay updated. Follow AI developments weekly, not annually. The landscape is changing that fast. What's cutting-edge today will be standard in six months.

Verify everything. AI is a powerful tool, but it's not infallible. Build verification into your processes, especially for critical decisions.

The Bottom Line

"Retailers who fail to adopt artificial general intelligence will face extinction because they'll be unable to compete with how fast everything is coming," Galloway warned.

When your competitor can move 100 times faster, spot trends in weeks instead of quarters, and optimize in real-time, they win. The tools are available to everyone. The question is who moves fastest.

As Galloway put it: "This is the most exciting time in history. Everything's about time. And time is your competitive weapon."

Watch his full talk below...