Swap Storefront Delivers 2x Conversion Rates as Leading Brands Adopt AI-Powered Commerce

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2026--

Today, Swap launched the first agentic storefront – a new AI-powered sales channel that lives separately from a brand's existing website and converts shoppers more effectively. Running on a dedicated AI site separate from each brand's main store, Swap Storefront guides shoppers from product discovery to live virtual try-on to checkout in a single, fully branded experience – and is already converting at twice the industry rate. Launch partners include SIMKHAI, Retrofête, Odd Muse, Studio Nicholson, and Manors Golf, alongside 20+ brands.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512567425/en/

AI tools have become part of daily life, and with that, consumer expectations for digital shopping experiences are shifting, leaving merchants racing to catch up. As LLMs build out their own commerce experiences, their incentives are structurally misaligned with brands': they're designed to keep consumers inside the LLM, often requiring shoppers to download a separate app or complete purchases within a chat interface – prioritizing engagement on the platform over conversion for the merchant. The result is brands ceding control of the customer relationship, the data, and the revenue those interactions generate. Swap Storefront introduces a different model: one built for merchants, where the brand owns the experience from end to end.

"We believe Swap Storefront is the next evolution of commerce, and the results prove it," said Sam Atkinson, Co-Founder and CEO of Swap. "Consumers are using LLMs more every day and increasingly want that same interactive, guided experience when they shop, rather than static browsing. Swap Storefront puts that power directly in the hands of brands, helping them meet that demand while strengthening direct customer relationships and capturing valuable insights."

As agentic commerce gains momentum, Swap is emerging as the merchant-first solution, helping brands compete in an AI-driven market without sacrificing what makes them unique. Rather than routing shoppers through a third-party AI layer, Swap Storefront lives on a dedicated .ai destination alongside the brand's main .com site – a fully branded experience that's already outperforming traditional e-commerce on conversion, time on site, and returns. Trained on each brand's products and owned entirely by the merchant, it gives brands full control over how their AI agent looks, sounds, and sells.

"As a founder-led brand, every detail of how we show up to our customers reflects a specific point of view,” said Aimee Smale, Founder and Creative Director at Odd Muse. “Swap Storefront is the first AI we've used that amplifies that point of view rather than dilutes it – I'm even personally voicing our AI agent. Our customers are getting the exact brand experience we'd want to give them, at a scale we couldn't reach on our own."

Behind the experience, Swap Storefront integrates directly with each brand's existing commerce stack, handling payment processing and connecting to the merchant's 3PLs, WMS, and OMS systems, giving brands a net-new AI channel without rebuilding their infrastructure. Across participating brands, that translates to conversion rates up to 2x higher, 3x longer time on site, and returns reduced by up to 20% compared to standard site journeys. The experience is driven by:

These results underscore a core principle behind Swap Storefront: AI should serve the brands, not sit between them and their customers. With Swap Storefront, every AI-driven interaction is designed to benefit the brand. Instead of capturing customer relationships on behalf of a third-party platform, Swap Storefront ensures brands retain full ownership of their customer data, conversational history, and revenue, creating an AI layer that strengthens the direct connection between brands and their customers, rather than replacing it.

“At SIMKHAI we've always believed that our pieces should feel effortless to wear, and now with Swap Storefront, they're also effortless to discover,” said Jonathan Simkhai, Founder and Creative Director at SIMKHAI. “Our new agentic experience powered by Swap will bring the warmth of a personal styling conversation from our stores into the digital space.”

Swap Storefront is currently live across a growing roster of global brands, including SIMKHAI, Retrofête, Odd Muse, Studio Nicholson, Manors Golf, and more.

To learn more, visit swap-commerce.com/talk-to-my-agent

About Swap:

Founded in 2022 by Sam Atkinson and Zach Bailet, Swap built the first agentic storefront, replacing traditional static websites with immersive, agent-led commerce experiences that take shoppers from product discovery to virtual try-on to checkout in a single branded flow. Trusted by 800+ brands, Swap also provides best-in-class infrastructure from cross-border, returns and inventory to tax and global compliance, helping merchants sell anywhere and scale globally on one unified platform. To learn more, visit Swap Commerce.

Swap Storefront Delivers 2x Conversion Rates as Leading Brands Adopt AI-Powered Commerce

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group called on the government Tuesday to withdraw from direct talks with Israel, calling them a concession and urging “indirect negotiations.”

Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold two days of talks in Washington starting Thursday in an attempt to end the latest fighting that broke out two months ago, following the Iran war, and discuss the future of relations between the two sides that have been at war since Israel was created in 1948.

Naim Kassem said in a letter directed to the group’s officials that direct negotiations benefit Israel and that they are “concessions by Lebanese authorities.” He said Lebanon’s government should instead resort to indirect negotiations with Israel, as in previous years, such as when a ceasefire was reached in November 2024.

Indirect talks are usually done through a third party.

Kassem also said the dispute over Hezbollah’s possession of weapons was an internal affair and shouldn't be part of the talks with Israel. The Lebanese government has sought the disarmament of the militant group after the latest round of fighting broke out in early March, calling all military activities by the group illegal.

Lebanese authorities have also demanded cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, deployment of Lebanese troops south of the Litani river, the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel and the return of displaced people to their homes.

Kassem said Tuesday his group is ready to cooperate to help achieve the five points demanded by the country's government.

Despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, which went into effect on April 17, Israel and Hezbollah have continued carrying out daily attacks.

Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told reporters Tuesday that since the ceasefire went into effect, 380 people have been killed and 1,122 wounded.

He added that since the latest war started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, the death toll in Lebanon has reached 2,882 dead and 8,786 wounded.

Since the early hours of Tuesday, Israel’s air force carried out strikes in different parts of southern Lebanon as well as the village of Sohmor in the eastern Bekaa Valley, state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said airstrikes on the village of Jibchit killed three and wounded four on Tuesday.

The Israeli military had earlier issued an evacuation warning to the residents of Sohmor and four villages in southern Lebanon.

The National News Agency reported that an Israeli force entered parts of the southern village of Deir Mimas on the Litani River and blew up a water pumping station that uses solar energy and supplies the village with fresh water. The agency said that the blast at the station at around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) caused wide damage.

The Israeli military posted photos of troops along the Litani River, without providing exact location details.

Hezbollah issued a statement saying that its fighters struck Israeli troops Tuesday morning near the Litani River in the village of Deir Seryan with rockets. It gave no further details.

Also Tuesday, Hezbollah confirmed that one of its military commanders was killed in an airstrike near Beirut last week. The group released a photo of Ahmed Ghaleb Balout describing him as a commander who spent much of his life on the battlefield.

Balout was killed May 6 in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut.

It was the first airstrike near Beirut since the ceasefire went into effect.

The Israeli military said Thursday it had killed Balout, who it identified as a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, along with two other militants.

Women grieve as they carry the body of 6-month-old Mariam Fahos during a funeral procession for people killed a day earlier in an Israeli airstrike in the village of Saksakieh, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)