Shopping Without Searching? Should Retailers Be Excited or Nervous?

Google’s message in the recent NRF 2026 (National Retail Federation's "Retail's Big Show," held January 11–13, 2026, in New York City) makes one thing clear. Shopping is no longer about clicking links and hopping between tabs. It is becoming a conversation.

Future of shopping is powered by AI recommendations

With AI built directly into how people search, ask, and decide, Google wants retail to move from “find a product” to “finish the purchase” without ever leaving the chat. That is exciting. Also slightly terrifying if you are not ready.

1. Shopping Starts With a Question, Not a Website

Instead of typing “best carry-on luggage,” shoppers may ask Google’s AI something like, “I’m flying for five days, what should I pack?”

That flips the funnel upside down.

The upside:
Brands can show up earlier, when people are still figuring things out. Helpful answers build trust fast.

The downside:
If your product info is unclear or outdated, you may not show up at all. No clicks. No second chances.

2. Personalization Gets Smarter, and Creepier

Google talks about retailers offering deals or suggestions based on past purchases. Packing cubes at checkout is helpful, but recommending something you already bought last week is less impressive.

The upside:
When done well, it feels like a good store assistant. Thoughtful, relevant, and convenient.

The downside:
Do it badly and it feels like someone read your diary. Nobody wants that.

3. The Checkout Disappears Into the Conversation

With Google Pay built in, discovery, decision, and payment happen in one flow. No app switching. No forms. No friction.

The upside:
Fewer drop-offs. Faster decisions. Great news for conversion rates.

The downside:
Retailers lose some control over the brand experience. Google owns more of the journey, and that is a big trade-off.

4. Retailers Become Data Partners, Not Just Sellers

To make this work, retailers need to feed Google clean, accurate, and structured product data.

The upside:
Brands that invest early will benefit from better visibility and smarter recommendations.

The downside:
If your tech stack is messy, this future will be painful. AI is honest. Brutally honest.

5. Convenience Wins, But Differentiation Gets Harder

When everything feels seamless, brands start to look similar.

The upside:
Smaller brands can compete if their products solve real problems and are well explained.

The downside:
If your only edge is price or promotions, that edge disappears quickly.

So, Is This the Future of Retail?

Yes. But not just because Google says so.

People want less effort, fewer clicks, and better answers. AI-driven shopping delivers that. The winners will be brands that focus on clarity, usefulness, and trust, not just visibility.

In the future, the best marketing may not feel like marketing at all. It feels more like help.

And honestly, that is not a bad place for retail to land.

What do you think? Would having AI as part of your shopping journey excite you?

How You Should Use QR Codes Again

Using of QR codes in Malaysia during lockdown

If you currently live in Malaysia, when was the last time you used or scanned a QR code? Chances are that you’ve scanned one as recent as yesterday or in the last week. But if I were to ask you the same question 6 months ago, you’d probably say not in the last month or not in a while. QR codes or Quick Response codes have been around since the 1990s, yet the culture of scanning QR codes never quite took off in Malaysia, until lately.

Various use of QR codes found outside retail outlets

Malaysians never had the need to scan QR codes as it requires an additional step of downloading QR code scanners into their devices as most phones don’t come pre-installed with one. Unlike countries like China, where QR codes are used for almost everything, QR codes in Malaysia are mainly used for e-wallet transactions in the past 2 years, and even that, most Malaysians prefer using cash at point-of-sale especially people of the older demographic.

However, I foresee that trend changing in the next 6 months to 1 year. This is because, post lockdown in Malaysia, most businesses require you to scan one before you can enter their premise as it’s a mandatory requirement by the Malaysian government in order to do contact tracing of everyone who has visited a certain premise. Sure, there are still those who choose to use a traditional pen and paper to record their whereabouts, but over time, I would think those who do will eventually switch to scanning a QR code to leave their contact details as it is not only time saving, but it’s also more hygienic (you don’t know who has touched that pen previously). To sort of validate this theory, I try to look at how many people left their contact details on the book provided at the supermarket entrance where I make my weekly grocery runs. I noticed that the list gets shorter each week I go. I don’t think this is caused by lower traffic volume to the supermarket, because I go to the same supermarket each week at approximately the same time, and the queue is roughly the same each week I go there. ­­This could mean that lesser people are leaving their contact details on the book and more of them are scanning the QR code at the entrance.

Another data point is when I did a Google Trend search on QR code scanners, and no surprises that you see a huge uptick of searches during and post lockdown periods.

Google Trends showing searches for qr code scanners

So, how and what can use QR codes for? While there are a ton of usage for QR codes, here are some I find relevant to Malaysia.

Digital Payments

Payment options available via QR codes

E-wallets are set to accelerate in the coming years in Malaysia. In its effort to make Malaysia a cashless nation, the government has launched e-Tunai Rakyat (People’s e-Money) initiative back in January 2020, which saw a disbursement of RM450mil to qualified citizens to boost e-wallet usage. This saw the government pre-loading a small sum of digital cash into an e-wallet of choice to citizens for free. Think of it as a free e-wallet starter kit. With the increased number of new users on e-wallets, the usage of QR codes are also set to increase.

Tracking of Product Information

Ever picked up a packaged product and noticed a QR code on the packaging? I bet not many would know that there are QR codes on consumer products as well. It has always been there, but not many of Malaysians know of its existence to begin with. Again, this goes back to the lack of a scanning culture here in Malaysia. Some of these codes will lead you to pages to know more about a certain product, some just directs you to the brand’s website.

Product information after scanning of QR code

At Abbott for example, we use QR codes on our packaging for 2 reasons; the first allows consumers to check and track the authenticity of our products, from batch number, manufacturing date, date of arrival in Malaysia, source of milk and expiry date. The second usage would be to reward our consumers with loyalty points through Abbott’s loyalty program. We’ve been having these QR codes since late last year and now we see scan rates being up due to the QR code scanning trend being on the rise as well.

e-Brochures / e-Catalogues

e-catalogues in the form of PDFs can now be obtain by simply scanning a QR code

Again, with more and more people opting for lesser face-to-face interactions, it would be hard for brands to or businesses to promote their products in stores. Brochures and catalogues are mainly used as a sales tool by promoters to aid selling. As many businesses are cutting back on cost as well as staff in light of Covid-19, paying for promoters to be in the store as well as paying for printed brochures and catalogues are becoming somewhat a luxury. However, brochures and catalogues can still play a part in stores, just that it has become digital. I recently went to a pharmacy that used to hand out single page promotional catalogues of their on-sale items. Instead, they now recommend you to scan a QR code to get the promotion catalogue of the month. I see this becoming more apparent in coming months as brands and businesses cut back on printing cost. It could be that the next time you visit places like Ikea or a car showroom, you can no longer get a printed catalogue.

Tracking Media Effectiveness and Traffic

It has always been a pain to justify the effectiveness when it comes to out-of-home and point-of-sale media. But if you have unique QR codes that are tagged to locations and medium, you can measure scan rates or number of scans to see how effective your advertising is in those locations. Of course, for your ads to be effective in this, there needs to be a call-to-action on your ad itself to get viewers to scan. You can then analyze which ads and locations are more effective in driving actions for your brand, which then enables you to make decisions to optimize on which location you would put your next advertising dollar on.

App to Web Authentication

Mobile apps are now using QR codes for 2 step authentications

If your brand has a mobile app, and also has a website that requires a login, one of the ways to skip the login process (without you needing to remember and re-keying in the username and password) is to have QR code authentications. Online banking providers such as Citi now encourages you to download their app to use it as an authentication to login to their website. This somewhat offers the customer the convenience of not forgetting their username and password. Apps like Whatsapp also require you to also scan a QR code as a form of authentication in order to use the web version.

Virtual Retail

Virtual store in the subway in South Korea. Scan a QR code to purchase items while waiting for your ride home

This was a smart store in a South Korean subway station that featured a large digital screen of products by Tesco. Using an app, people would scan what they would like to purchase and add to their shopping cart on their app. Just like how you would if you go to an actual supermarket. Once they have completed selecting the products, they can then checkout those items and get them delivered to their homes. It’s a time saver especially for people on the go who do not have time to purchase essential items or groceries. Imagine the same execution being applied to fashion and the F&B industries. Believe it or not, this was done in 2011. But in a time where social distancing is highly encouraged, and face-to-face contact is to be limited, having such an execution isn’t too farfetched. 

In summary, if you’re a brand or business, start to consider integrating QR codes as part of your products and services. If you’re still skeptical on whether or not enough people will scan QR codes, the above examples clearly shows that there is an increase in trend and application in Malaysia. And with more people aware of how to scan QR codes and how they work, you will definitely see a scanning culture becoming a norm in the coming future.