Retail frontier companies are using AI to support more responsive and resilient decision-making and execution across commerce channels, evolving their operating models to keep pace with increasingly dynamic markets. Rather than improving individual capabilities in isolation, these organizations are rethinking how commerce operates end-to-end, allowing AI agents to work with people to support faster, more consistent outcomes across the business. This evolution is accelerating as retailers grapple with rising customer expectations, persistent margin pressures, volatile demand, and ongoing workforce constraints. These are situations that would benefit from more continuous decision-making and implementation.
Retail Frontier Firms is embedding AI capabilities wherever decisions and value are created: in-store, on the digital shelf, in merchandising, pricing, fulfillment, customer service, and checkout. AI agents interpret signals from customers, inventory, suppliers, and channels and help coordinate actions across the enterprise. This enables retailers to scale across touchpoints and respond to change more quickly and consistently.
This operating model is enabled by agents that share context and work together across the retail ecosystem. The core of agent commerce is Model Context Protocol (MCP)This gives AI agents access to a shared, enterprise-level understanding of products, inventory, pricing, policies, and customer intent. MCP supports coordinated, managed, and consistent decision-making across channels and functions by rooting agents in a common business context. The future of retail is increasingly being shaped by operating models of humans and AI agents, connected by shared context and open protocols.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) Unlock hundreds of thousands of business capabilities for agents, developers, and applications to use securely and in real-time.
- Agent Communication Protocol (ACP) This enables agents across merchandising, supply chain, store operations, and services to collaborate end-to-end, reducing fragmentation and coordinating execution across functions.
- Payment and transaction agent protocols Extend AI capabilities through checkout and payments to support trusted and compliant transactions across in-store, online, and conversational commerce.
Together, these capabilities support a more results-oriented operating model that focuses on availability, margin, conversion, service levels, and loyalty. Humans define strategy, priorities, and guardrails, and AI agents orchestrate the execution of entire day-to-day operations, supporting modern retail operations designed for Commerce Anywhere.
Emerging retail trends shaping the future of commerce
As consumer expectations continue to rise, shoppers increasingly demand seamless, continuous interactions that easily transition from social commerce discovery to mobile checkout, in-store pickup, curbside fulfillment, or voice reordering. Frontier Retail responds to this shift by dissolving the boundaries between channels and touchpoints, allowing commerce to adapt to customer intent, location, and context in real time. For brands, this means delivering frictionless, proactive commerce at scale, responding to customers wherever they are with relevance and speed, without operational complexity.
The industry is rapidly moving from static, siled channels to autonomous, context-aware agents that seamlessly orchestrate the purchasing process across stores, digital experiences, and conversational interfaces. Agents go beyond traditional personalization. They help proactively guide product discovery, shape contextual offers, negotiate availability, coordinate fulfillment, and continuously optimize inventory, pricing, promotions, and supply chain decisions behind the scenes. As personalization and automation become critical factors, agentic AI emerges as the strategic engine driving scalable growth and sustainable Commerce Anywhere.
Introducing the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce MCP Server
Agenttic commerce introduces a new operating model where AI agents collaborate through MCPs, enabling continuous decision-making and coordinated execution across the retail value chain. new Dynamics 365 Commerce MCP Server Expose core retail business logic such as catalog, pricing, promotions, inventory, cart, ordering, and fulfillment as MCP-enabled functionality. Scheduled to begin previewing in February 2026, retailers will be able to build agent commerce experiences where AI agents can securely discover, determine, and execute retail workflows across digital, physical, and conversational channels.
By combining ERP, Analytics, and Commerce MCP servers, Dynamics 365 supports a more agent-driven operating model where front-office experiences and back-office operations are connected and optimized, helping retailers operate more agilely and be Commerce Anywhere-ready.
How retailers can start implementing agent commerce today
Retail industry leaders can begin their journey to agent commerce by deploying AI agents in three practical ways:
- Start with an agent embedded in Dynamics 365
- Extend functionality with custom-built agents using MCP
- Leverage partner-built agents across the broader retail ecosystem
Combining these approaches allows retailers to move agent hiring at their own pace, aligning with their operating model, business priorities and maturity.
1. Start with the agent embedded in Dynamics 365
Dedicated agents are designed to address common retail challenges and operational pain points. Dynamics 365 agents and retail agents can be embedded directly into core business processes, allowing teams to quickly realize value.
Microsoft retail industry agents such as Catalog Enrichment Agent and Personalized Shopping Agent are examples of industry-specific agents designed around retail data models, workflows, and decision-making patterns to support scenarios such as product discovery, assortment accuracy, and personalized engagement without the need for custom development.
Currently in Dynamics 365, the Supplier Communications Agent is a great example of a built-in agent in action. Retailers can proactively monitor supply signals and work with suppliers in real-time to check inventory status, adjust delivery schedules, and react to changes early. This results in faster adjustments, fewer surprises, and more reliable execution at scale.
2. Build a custom agent using MCP
Retail operations are shaped by each organization's unique business logic, driven by merchandising strategies, store formats, service models, and supply chain constraints. Microsoft Copilot Studio allows retailers to build custom AI agents that encode their own rules across replenishment, allocation, fulfillment, and store operations, and tailor agent behavior directly to how their business operates.
These custom agents can use MCP-powered enterprise system access to execute work flows from planning to sales. Within Microsoft Teams, merchandising managers and planners can collaborate in real-time with agents who access products, demand forecasting, supplier relationships, inventory, and pricing through the Dynamics 365 ERP MCP.
On the sales side, custom agents can extend intelligence to the customer experience through the Dynamics 365 Commerce MCP server. Agents can discover products, personalize offers, assess availability, reserve inventory, and complete transactions across digital, physical, and conversational channels, all while using a unified view of pricing, promotions, and fulfillment.
3. Extend agent commerce through partners and ecosystems
Retailers can further accelerate agent adoption by leveraging partner-built agents designed for specific retail scenarios and industries. Commerce MCP allows software development companies and system integrators to build agents faster by reducing integration overhead, standardizing access to retail data, and maintaining enterprise-grade reliability and compliance.
Early partner solutions are already demonstrating a wide range of possibilities, from store associate productivity and customer engagement to conversational commerce and business-to-business (B2B) purchasing experiences.
- amicis: Store Commerce Agent is a voice-first, screen-recognized assistant designed to get your store up and running in no time. This allows employees to use natural voice commands in Dynamics 365 Commerce to complete difficult tasks like returns, exchanges, finding orders, and reviewing policies while adapting to what's on the POS screen.
- Evennica: B2B Licensee Product Request Agent uses conversational AI and image recognition to help licensees find beverage products. If a product is not in the catalog, your agent can create a request case to help you with the product acquisition process.
- argano: Retail Clienteling Agent delivers a conversational client experience by bringing together customer insights, product data, and agent AI into a single, managed workflow. Empower retail associates to improve customer relationships by providing personalized, branded interactions before, during, and after an in-store reservation.
- sunrise: Commerce Companion is a suite of retail agents that helps simplify day-to-day store operations, from inventory and fulfillment to purchasing and store processes. It's designed to use natural language to provide fast, accurate answers and guided actions, helping your employees stay on track and efficiently serve customers.
- Visionette: FashionGPT Agent can turn natural language shopping intent into real-time retail execution across products, pricing, inventory, and promotions. This facilitates end-to-end shopping journeys and transforms conversations into measurable actions across channels.
The combination of built-in agents, custom-built agents, and partner solutions provides retailers with a flexible entry point to agent commerce, supporting short-term impact while laying the foundation for a more adaptive, AI-enabled operating model across Commerce Anywhere.
Agent Retail goes live with Dynamics 365 at NRF 2026
At NRF, we will demonstrate how Dynamics 365 works with Copilot and agent capabilities to support Commerce Anywhere and more efficient end-to-end retail operations. See examples of how retailers are using Dynamics 365 to evolve their operating models and Frontier Firm capabilities.
Please come visit us during NRF Expo hours. Level 3, Booth 4503join the relevant theater sessions at our booth.
- Beyond the boutique: How Frette uses AI to transform the store experience
Sunday, January 11, 2026, 2:00 PM ET
Session led by Sunrise Technologies - Reimagine retail business processes with Agentic ERP
Tuesday, January 13, 2026 2:30 PM ET
The future of retail belongs to frontier organizations that can sense, decide, and act in real time. Agent commerce enabled by Dynamics 365 gives retailers the foundation to move with confidence and speed through intelligent agents that work seamlessly across all channels to align strategy, execution, and customer experience. We look forward to connecting with you in New York and exploring how agent business applications in Dynamics 365 can help you take your next step forward.
