Dell: Agentic AI is growing, but search still wins

Traffic from agentic AI sources is rising at Dell, but the impact remains minimal and inconsistent, according to the company’s ecommerce lead.

The details. Dell is seeing increased visits from platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, according to Breanna Fowler, head of global consumer revenue programs. But the growth isn’t “earth-shaking,” and agentic shopping has yet to deliver meaningful results, Fowler told Digital Commerce 360.

• Dell is still testing how to integrate with LLM-driven shopping, with efforts in early proof-of-concept stages and internal debate over long-term strategy, Fowler said.
• Fowler expects agentic AI to function more like an aggregation layer — similar to travel sites or delivery platforms — rather than a primary purchasing channel.
• Fowler doesn’t expect consumers to adopt agentic shopping en masse for transactions, at least in the near term.

Agentic AI vs. search. Fowler said that, with or without LLMs and agentic commerce, ecommerce sites “can do the most good for their customers” through a “really great search experience.”

• “If I can’t find your products easily and effortlessly, no amount of content and configurator capabilities — nobody really gives a crap about that stuff,” she said.

Why we care. Agentic AI is emerging as a discovery layer, but it hasn’t shown signs of replacing core search behavior. You still win or lose on how easily products can be found, whether by humans or AI agents.

The context. Dell ranks highly in emerging AI-driven discovery metrics, despite not being among the largest ecommerce players.

• That mismatch suggests AI surfaces may reward different product types or content structures than traditional search.

Bottom line. Agentic AI is sending more traffic, but it behaves like a top-of-funnel channel, not a conversion engine. Search — especially on-site — remains the primary driver of ecommerce performance.

The report. Dell use case for agentic AI could revolve around search rather than commerce

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