---
id: "open-question-funnel-erasure"
type: "open-question"
source_timestamps: ["¶19"]
tags: ["marketing-theory", "customer-behavior"]
related: ["quote-erase-the-funnel"]
resolution_path: "Tracking shifts in digital ad spend from traditional top-of-funnel channels to Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) and retail media networks."
sources: ["geo"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-geo"
originDay: 3
articleStem: "hbr-nm-97-retailers-ai-shoppers"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/10/what-should-retailers-do-about-ai-shoppers"
sourceTitle: "What Should Retailers Do About AI Shoppers?"
---
# Will AI agents completely erase the marketing funnel?

## Open Question — Will agents fully erase the funnel?

The authors posit that agents will reshape or **"maybe even erase"** the marketing and sales funnel (see [[quote-erase-the-funnel]]), creating a non-linear journey that might completely bypass a vendor's website. It remains open how brands will build **awareness** if consumers delegate discovery entirely to machines.

**Resolution path:** Track shifts in digital ad spend from traditional top-of-funnel channels toward **Agent Engine Optimization (AEO)** and retail media networks.

**Enrichment counter-view:** the literature leans toward *reconfiguration* over *erasure* — awareness via agents/influencers/brand experiences, consideration via agent-mediated simulations, conversion instant-but-trust-influenced. Upper-funnel brand equity may become *more* important, not less, because agents need reasons to recommend a brand. Requires [[prereq-marketing-funnel-d97]] to interpret.