Every example I see of an agentic commerce purchase always includes buying runni
By Stephen Honight · October 14, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Every example I see of an agentic commerce purchase always includes buying running shoes. As an avid runner, I was confused by that but it also resonated because I've used Instinct to buy multiple pairs over the last 6 weeks.
FYI - I have more running shoes than pairs of trousers or jumpers combined.
Anyway in my quest to understand why running shoes are always the example (which can't be because everyone is a runner, as that's not true), I asked AI why it was always used as an example and this is what it said....
"Running shoes are almost the perfect product for showcasing what conversational commerce can do. They're complex enough to make AI look useful but familiar enough that everyone understands the problem."
It gave me six reasons but I've cut it down to the three I think are the most important.
#1 Lots of product attributes. Cushioning, stability, pronation, terrain, distance, weight, fit and price. AI can demonstrate how it interprets multiple requirements simultaneously.
#2 And enormous product catalogue. Nike, Adidas, Brooks, ASICS, Hoka and Saucony all have extensive ranges. This makes filtering and comparison valuable.
#3 Low barriers to recommending them. Unlike medicines, financial products or supplements, running shoes don't introduce particularly difficult regulatory concerns.
So either the running shoe industry is going to be massively disrupted by people shopping with AI .... or we just continue to see lots of examples of people shopping for running shoes with AI 😁
By the way I know that a popular running shoe site is getting a significant amount of traffic and revenue through people who've navigated there by AI .. so I'm going to go with the former.
On a more serious note, though, any product with a a large array of attributes and a large catalogue definitely lends itself to AI shopping as part of the filtering process (as in, that's the utility for the customer: not having to do it themselves) - so that, I think, is where the agentic commerce penetration starts.
p.s. I'm not sponsored by Adidas ... or Nike and this isn't the whole collection.