AI Agents Gain Ground in Retail and Consumer Goods
Nearly half of retail and consumer goods organizations using AI agents deploy them as employee assistants, according to an NVIDIA study.
Updated on Nov. 9, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
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An NVIDIA State of AI in Retail and CPG report, based on a study of hundreds of industry executives conducted in August and September 2025, found that 48% of organizations implementing AI agents use them as employee assistants. The same share uses them as customer service assistants and for personalized marketing.
Why it matters
Company knowledge is often stored in documents, platforms, or concentrated in specific individuals, and AI agents can retrieve and synthesize that information for employees. Adoption remains uneven, with 47% of companies using or evaluating AI agents but only 20% having actively deployed them.
Of the retail and CPG companies surveyed, 47% are using or evaluating AI agents and 20% have actively deployed them, while 46% cite AI talent shortages as a barrier, up from 31%. The report does not specify the full sample size or breakdown by company size.
The players
NVIDIA
NVIDIA is a semiconductor and AI computing company whose hardware and software platforms power much of the current generative AI industry.
The details
Organizations use AI agents to automate internal workflows, with 59% reporting this use, and for knowledge management and retrieval, also at 59%. Companies pursuing customer-facing applications use agents to recommend products, tailor messages, or guide purchases, and 41% of organizations analyzed use AI shopping assistants.
Timeline
August and September 2025: NVIDIA conducted the study among hundreds of industry executives.
2026: NVIDIA published the State of AI in Retail and CPG report.
Industry Context
The NVIDIA State of AI survey series has tracked enterprise AI adoption across sectors, and this retail and CPG edition extends that cross-industry picture to a sector facing customer-experience pressure. The report reflects a shift from AI experimentation toward operational deployment in internal workflows.
Shoppers may see AI-driven product recommendations and personalized messaging more often as retailers deploy these tools in customer-facing roles. Employees in retail and consumer goods companies may find internal knowledge easier to retrieve as agents take over routine information lookups.
The takeaway
Companies are moving AI agents from pilot programs into daily operations, but talent shortages remain a major obstacle for many. Organizations planning adoption should weigh staffing capacity alongside technology investment.
Further reading
For more on the technology behind these deployments, see Artificial Intelligence coverage on Wisevoter.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Merca2.0 Magazine.
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