EXCLUSIVE Q&A: Shirley Gao, chief digital & innovation officer, Pacsun
Pacsun is continuing its digital innovation effort in a new partnership with the parent company of e-commerce platform BigCommerce.
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Shirley Gao, chief digital & innovation officer, Pacsun, about the youth-oriented apparel retailer’s implementation of the Commerce agentic AI-based checkout platform and her broader view of agentic AI in retail.
Pacsun’s deployment of agentic checkout is the latest in a long line of technology innovations that also include a new digital platform for creators called PS Community Hub, a curated resale shop and livestream shopping events on the TikTok Shop social commerce hub.
What led Pacsun to implement the Commerce agentic checkout solution?
The capability is demanded by our core customers who are Gen Z and Gen Alpha and grew up with technology and innovation. Agentic AI and shopping on AI platforms are the future of retail and will reshape how customers conduct their shopping journeys as well as how retailers operate.
Pacsun thinks it's essential to continue to be innovative and to provide additional shopping channels or capabilities for our customers wherever they have the demand.
How does this solution work and what kind of benefits are you receiving?
We have enabled instant checkout on the Perplexity AI platforms and are currently working with Google Universal Commerce Protocol, Microsoft Copilot and OpenAI.
[READ MORE: Google launches new agentic commerce standard]
There are two steps. First is improving our discoverability so that when customers talk to the LLMs, they are able to see Pacsun. We must provide our authentic brand information with our community, including not only the brand, but mostly from our customers. I think the reason that people want to shop with AI is that a good portion of the information you get is authentic information from real customers.
Second is to provide the LLMs with real-time information. We now have a real-time technology integration to provide an AI customer the most current product information. For example, if you go to Perplexity now and find a pair of Pacsun jeans you see a price which is synchronized so that we provide customers one source of the truth from our own website.
There is no friction, confusion or different pricing, so it's consistent. In addition, real-time inventory updates for the customer are very important.
Another benefit is instant checkout. What usually happens with shopping on an AI platform is you identify the product you want to buy, click it, and the AI engine will take you back to the retailer’s website, landing on the product page so you can finish your shopping journey from there.
But working with Commerce, PayPal and Perplexity, we developed instant buy capability. You can choose the size and the color and put in your payment method. You purchase the product and Pacsun gets the order.
Pacsun then sends the customer an email saying we got your order and are working on it and your journey is finished. This provides the shopper more convenience, is smoother and reduces friction for the customers.
Are there any future agentic AI plans at Pacsun that you can discuss?
Pacsun has been applying AI integration to every part of the business while being very focused on our customer interaction. We want to offer the customer access to everything that matches their interest and their preference.
More specifically, agentic AI will be coming to our e-commerce site so that customers can perform conversational shopping, voice shopping or image shopping. For example, maybe a customer took a snapshot of somebody and really likes their outfit, so they uploaded the image.
Pacsun will be continually adding more AI capabilities to provide the most relevant search results and to understand the customer's intent to provide the most relevant products to them.
How do you see agentic commerce developing in 2026 across retail?
I think the AI platforms will prioritize working with larger retailers like Walmart and Target. However, brands like Pacsun are getting ourselves and our data ready. I think retail will continue to learn and evolve and apply AI everywhere in the retail business.
Editor’s Note: Shirley Gao was a Chain Store Age Retail’s Top Women Awards recipient in the technology category in 2024.
