As ChatGPT pulls back on native in-app checkout, malls becomemainstream again. Is agentic commerce ready for primetime, or are consumers seeking more analog experiences? PLUS: Dick's Sporting Goods' loyalty loop that turns steps into spending power, and a dystopian new platform that rents out humans for AI agents that can't operate in the physical world. Everything old is new again.

• ChatGPT is stepping back from native in-app checkout, but the commerce protocol it built with Stripe lives on
• 77% of shoppers prefer clicking through to a website over buying directly via AI
• The mall remains a societal favorite third space, even as stores become shoppable content studios (just ask John Lewis)
• Dick's Sporting Goods' movement-linked rewards program is quietly building one of retail's stickiest loyalty ecosystems, making it a viable competitor to AI apps
• "Rent-a-Human" platforms signal a strange new frontier: AI agents outsourcing tasks to people in “meatspace”

• How 2,000 consumers used AI to shop
• Gen Z Is Going to the Mall Again — WSJ
• Rent-a-Human
• Join us at Shoptalk Spring 2026!

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