---
id: "prereq-marketing-funnel-d97"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["¶19"]
tags: ["marketing"]
related: ["quote-erase-the-funnel"]
reason: "Needed to grasp the magnitude of the disruption A2A commerce poses to traditional marketing."
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?"
---
# The Traditional Marketing Funnel

## Prerequisite — The Traditional Marketing Funnel

**Why it's needed:** Needed to grasp the magnitude of the disruption A2A commerce poses to traditional marketing.

The text assumes familiarity with the **linear customer journey** — awareness → consideration → conversion — to understand how AI agents are *erasing* or bypassing these stages (see [[quote-erase-the-funnel]] and [[open-question-funnel-erasure]]). If agents own discovery and evaluation, the classic top-of-funnel touchpoints (ads, search, brand sites) may never fire.

**Enrichment link:** retail media networks currently monetize much of that top-of-funnel traffic; McKinsey flags them as a revenue stream directly threatened by agentic commerce.


## Related across articles
- [[prereq-marketing-funnel-d13]]
- [[prereq-performance-marketing-funnel]]
- [[prereq-aggregator-theory]]