THE ALGORITHMIC SHOPPER™
Navigating the Commerce of the Future Where AI Agents Are the Gatekeepers.
Autonomous AI agents are making purchasing decisions on behalf of consumers. Your brand, your product, your company is being evaluated and selected (or rejected) by algorithms—not humans. The rules of marketing and sales that worked for a century are being rewritten.
I'm Paul Accornero, and I've spent the last few years researching, testing, and implementing the new playbook for the algorithmic age.
The Shopper Schism™: The Foundational Shift
For over 100 years, consumer and shopper were the same person. The human who used the product was the same human who bought it. Every marketing theory—from Maslow to the AIDA model—was built on this assumption.
That assumption just broke.
The Shopper Schism™ describes the permanent separation of the consumer (the human who uses products) from the shopper (the AI agent that buys them). This three-party relationship—Consumer → AI Agent → Brand—changes everything about how commerce works.
When algorithms evaluate your brand based on verifiable data instead of emotional perception, your century-old playbooks become obsolete. You need new frameworks. You need a new science of Agent Intent Optimization. You need to compete for algorithmic selection, not human persuasion.
That's what my work provides.
Who I Am
I am a Practitioner-Scholar focused on the future of commerce, where autonomous AI agents are becoming the primary purchasing decision-makers.
I've spent 25+ years in C-suite roles building global brands and leading transformations. Most recently, I served as the Global Chief Commercial Officer of De'Longhi Group (since 2018), where I lead a €3.5+ billion P&L across 120 countries.
Over the last few years, I observed a fundamental shift that challenged a century of marketing wisdom: AI agents were not just influencing decisions, but autonomously executing transactions. I realized this was not an incremental change, but a paradigm shift.
To understand this new reality, I pivoted from leading commercial operations to researching them. I began testing and documenting what actually works when your customer is a machine. My research has since been accepted for publication in top-tier peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Marketing Theory, Academy of Management Perspectives, Big Data & Society, and California Management Review. I am also a Harvard Business School executive education alumnus (GMP23).
My forthcoming book, The Algorithmic Shopper™ (St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Publishing, 2027), provides a strategic roadmap for leaders who need to compete in a world where their most valuable new customer is not human.
What You'll Find Here
This is The AI Praxis™—a discipline that bridges high-level theory with actionable strategy. Here you'll find:
Original Frameworks:
The Shopper Schism™ (The Great Decoupling)
Agent Intent Optimization (AIO)™ – the new marketing discipline
The Agent Decision Preference Stack™ – how AI agents actually decide
Algorithmic Readiness™ – the organizational capability you need
The Governance Gauntlet™ – turning compliance into competitive advantage
Systemic Reliability™ – what replaces relational capital
Research & Publications:
Peer-reviewed papers, working papers on SSRN, and empirical findings from real-world implementation at scale.
Executive Education:
Frameworks and insights from teaching at leading business schools on AI strategy, algorithmic commerce, and leadership in the agentic age.
Practical Guidance:
Not theory for theory's sake. Every framework is designed for implementation by C-suite executives who need to act now, not theorize later.
Why This Matters Now
We're at a critical inflection point. Companies that build algorithmic readiness today will establish compounding advantages that are hard to break. Those that wait will find themselves playing catch-up in a game where the rules have already been written.
The question isn't WHETHER this transformation will affect business.
The question is whether you'll be ready when it does.
The good news? The playbook exists. The frameworks are proven. The evidence is empirical. You just need to act.