Walmart Welcomes AI Agents, Amazon Blocks Them, Kevel Raises $52M

Walmart is building infrastructure for AI agents to shop autonomously while Amazon locks them out — a fork in the road that will reshape how brands sell in the US. Plus, Kevel's $52M raise signals retail media consolidation is accelerating fast. In this episode: Walmart is actively enabling AI agents to browse and purchase on its platform on behalf of consumers, while Amazon is blocking the same agents entirely — a public strategic split between the two largest US retailers on agentic commerce. Retail media infrastructure company Kevel has closed a $52 million Series D funding round and plans to use the capital for acquisitions, positioning itself as the independent ad tech layer for retailers who want to own their media networks rather than rely on Amazon or Criteo. Sales from Asian ecommerce platforms including Temu and Shein dropped by more than a third in Germany in Q3 2026 following the EU's removal of the duty-free threshold on low-value parcels, with no corresponding sales uplift seen by local German retailers — suggesting suppressed demand rather than a shift in spending. The Digital Commerce Daily is a concise briefing for ecommerce, retail media and digital commerce professionals, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day. Enjoying the show? A quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps other marketers find us. Also from Marco & Klara: The FMCG Marketing Daily · The Health Marketing Daily