---
id: "quote-first-buying-conversation"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶1"]
tags: ["future-of-commerce", "automation"]
related: ["concept-a2a-commerce"]
speaker: "Mikey Vu, Maureen Burns and Aaron Cheris"
speakers: ["Mikey Vu", "Maureen Burns", "Aaron Cheris"]
quote: "The first and only buying conversation for some consumers might soon be between two digital entities: the consumer's shopping agent and a vendor's systems."
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 first buying conversation

## Quote — The first buying conversation

> "The first and only buying conversation for some consumers might soon be between two digital entities: the consumer's shopping agent and a vendor's systems."
> — [[entity-mikey-vu]], [[entity-maureen-burns]] and [[entity-aaron-cheris]]

**Why it matters:** This is the source's opening thesis statement for [[concept-a2a-commerce]] — the moment where human-to-machine interaction is replaced by machine-to-machine interaction at the top of the funnel. It frames the whole vault: if the *first* buying conversation is agent-to-system, then discovery, consideration, and evaluation may never touch a vendor's website (compare [[quote-erase-the-funnel]]).