Matt Howland to Introduce the Shopper Context Protocol at Retail AI Council's Industry Reception During NRF 2026
- Jessica de Meillon
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
The retail industry stands at a crossroads. As AI agents increasingly mediate the shopping journey, brands face a stark choice: fade into the background of anonymous transactions or step forward with technology that preserves what matters most—customer relationships.
On January 12, 2026, during the National Retail Federation's Big Show in New York, Matt Howland will introduce the Shopper Context Protocol (SCP) at the Retail AI Council's Industry Reception: The AI Standards Launch. The event, taking place from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM at Queensyard in Hudson Yards, marks a pivotal moment for retailers navigating the era of agentic commerce.
The risk is existential. AI is collapsing the traditional shopping journey into a single moment of intent, and without portable context, retailers risk becoming invisible at that moment.
The Challenge: When AI Comes Between Brands and Customers
The numbers tell a sobering story. One-third of consumers now use personal AI agents as part of their shopping journey. Without the right infrastructure, these AI interactions begin from zero—stripping away years of customer loyalty, order history, and brand preferences. What was once a familiar shopping experience with a trusted brand suddenly feels impersonal and anonymous.
Matt Howland, chair of the SCP Working Group, describes the urgency: "Without a shared standard protocol for shopper context, many retailers struggle to unlock the power of AI agents, while being effectively blind to conversations shoppers have within tools like ChatGPT."
The risk is existential. AI is collapsing the traditional shopping journey into a single moment of intent, and without portable context, retailers risk becoming invisible at that moment.
Enter the Shopper Context Protocol
The Shopper Context Protocol is the Retail AI Council's answer to this challenge. SCP is an open, privacy-preserving standard that enables customers to choose where and how their shopping context is shared, ensuring that agentic commerce strengthens—not detracts from—their relationships with brands.
"SCP ensures retailers can participate meaningfully in these moments instead of being cut out of them," Howland explains. "This initiative will help unify our approach, reduce friction, and accelerate personalized AI customer experiences while keeping consumer trust at the forefront of everything we do."
The protocol fills a critical gap left by other emerging standards. While the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) enables product discovery and checkout, it doesn't recognize loyalty, preference, or intent. SCP carries that context into the exact moment where shoppers make decisions, making shopper context portable and ensuring that shoppers aren't reduced to anonymous clicks as commerce becomes increasingly agent-led.
Where ACP prioritizes speed and frictionless checkout, SCP ensures the inclusion of human emotion, brand affinity, and the intangibles that matter when consumers shop.
Matt Howland: At the Intersection of AI and Retail
As President and Chief Product & Engineering Officer at Cordial, Matt Howland has established himself as a thought leader at the nexus of artificial intelligence and retail marketing. His perspective combines technical depth with a clear-eyed view of what AI can—and can't—deliver.
"Retail marketers are ready to move beyond trial-and-error campaign experimentation and embrace real intelligence," Howland said in March 2025 when announcing Cordial Edge's expansion. "Cordial Edge is built to understand the why behind message performance at an individual level and deliver guidance exactly when and where marketers need it. This marks a fundamental shift in how marketers understand and optimize customer engagement."
His approach to innovation emphasizes speed and experimentation. "The only way to win back consumer attention is through experimentation, creativity and agility," Howland stated in August 2025. "With Foundry, we're moving at the speed of AI—testing, iterating, and releasing new tools in weeks, not years. We're essentially running live experiments on behalf of marketers, ensuring they're always working with what's next, not what was."
Yet Howland remains grounded about AI's limitations and opportunities. "And each brand is unique, with unique customers, programs, and data, so shoe-horning every brand into a one-size-fits-all AI model and schema would hold back what AI can deliver," he noted when discussing Cordial's multimodal AI approach in January 2025.
His earlier insights into AI's transformational potential remain relevant. "AI is emerging as a driving true platform shift that will redefine and enhance many aspects of our lives. Retail is no different and will continue to be defined by the depth of the relationship between the brands and their customers," Howland wrote in September 2023. "Emerging applications of AI will allow for unprecedented opportunities to redefine that relationship and deliver tools to merchants to ideate faster than ever."
SCP ensures retailers can participate meaningfully in these moments instead of being cut out of them. This initiative will help unify our approach, reduce friction, and accelerate personalized AI customer experiences while keeping consumer trust at the forefront of everything we do.
The Working Group: Building the Future Together
The SCP Working Group brings together retailers, technology providers, and industry leaders to collaboratively evolve the protocol and establish implementation best practices. Early participants gain influence over the protocol's evolution, ensuring their specific technical requirements and use cases shape future versions of SCP.
Andy Laudato, co-founder and chair of the Retail AI Council and COO of The Vitamin Shoppe, emphasizes the foundation being built: "AI isn't transformational unless it's grounded in a deep, real-time understanding of what shoppers want and why. The Working Group is a critical step toward building that foundation, prioritizing continuity of a shopper's experience with a brand while democratizing a retailer's access to context-rich AI."
The protocol's goals are ambitious but achievable. SCP aims to enable customers to securely maintain their relationship data with a retailer across any platform, personal AI assistant, or channel they choose. For retailers, it strengthens their ability to recognize and serve loyal customers even as AI systems sit between brands and shoppers.
Importantly, SCP requires only lightweight implementation and avoids proprietary lock-in, making adoption accessible for retailers of all sizes. The implementation is designed to take just 2-4 days, requires no fees, and works across any AI environment.
For technology providers, SCP offers a standardized integration point for accessing customer context without building individual retailer-by-retailer integrations.
Doug Weich, Founder & Connecter of the Retail AI Council, emphasizes the practical value: "I've seen first-hand how hard it is for retailers and technology providers when every agentic interaction starts from zero. Through the SCP Working Group, we can build practical, scalable standards that preserve customer relationships and strengthen the entire ecosystem."
What to Expect at the Industry Reception
The January 12th event at Queensyard isn't just another networking reception. It's where the future of customer relationships in agentic commerce begins.
Hosted by Retail AI Council and Cordial, the invitation-only event offers attendees the opportunity to:
Explore the future of retail AI with industry pioneers
Learn how AI agents are reshaping commerce and what that means for customer relationships
Discover how open standards like SCP can help retailers maintain meaningful connections with shoppers
Connect with innovative retailers and technology leaders navigating this transformation
Gain insights into the Working Group and the chance to influence how these standards evolve
For those interested in deeper involvement, early participation in the Working Group offers the opportunity to shape how these standards develop, positioning early adopters as leaders in agentic commerce.
One-third of consumers now use personal AI agents as part of their shopping journey. Without the right infrastructure, these AI interactions begin from zero—stripping away years of customer loyalty, order history, and brand preferences.
Why This Matters Now
The retail industry doesn't have the luxury of waiting. Nearly one-third of consumers are now willing to let an AI agent purchase an item, according to a recent Contentsquare survey, and consumers are more interested in AI that enhances existing brand experiences rather than replacing them.
Major retailers are already moving. Walmart is working with OpenAI to let shoppers purchase items through ChatGPT. Etsy became a partner for ChatGPT's instant checkout feature. Target launched an app in beta on ChatGPT. Furniture company Ashley is partnering with Perplexity for direct purchases on the AI platform.
The question isn't whether AI will transform retail—it's whether retailers will have a voice in that transformation or be sidelined by it.
The Shopper Context Protocol offers a path forward that preserves customer relationships, respects consumer privacy, and gives retailers the tools they need to thrive in an AI-mediated marketplace.
On January 12th at Queensyard, Matt Howland and the Retail AI Council will introduce the standard that could define how brands and customers connect in the age of agentic commerce. For retail leaders, it's an opportunity not to be missed.
Event Details: Retail AI Council Industry Reception: The AI Standards Launch Monday, January 12, 2026 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM EST Queensyard at Hudson Yards New York, NY
Attendance is by invitation only. Contact Doug Weich at doug@retailaicouncil.com to request an invitation.
About the Retail AI Council The Retail AI Council is a retailer-built, retailer-led organization with over 400 members dedicated to helping retailers embrace the transformative potential of AI. The Council brings together retail and technology leaders to collaboratively develop practical AI solutions that strengthen customer relationships and drive industry innovation.
Learn more at www.retailaicouncil.com
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