CHICAGO (April 23, 2026) – NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) today announced the launch of NIQ Commerce Lab, where the company is building the technology infrastructure for AI-driven commerce. The Lab will develop the data platforms, APIs, and measurement systems that power how products are discovered, evaluated, and purchased in AI-mediated environments.
This includes what the industry often refers to as agentic commerce, but extends across quick commerce, social commerce, and other emerging channels—where AI is becoming the common layer shaping how consumers navigate choices and how decisions are made in real time.
AI systems are rapidly moving from supporting decisions to making them—playing an increasingly central role in how commerce operates. Their effectiveness depends on the intelligence behind them.
AI is Becoming the Operating Layer of Global Commerce
NIQ ensures that the intelligence behind these systems is accurate, complete, and grounded in real-world behavior—reflecting how consumers actually buy, what products are really available, and how markets operate.
Across the industry, however, the data and measurement required to support this shift remains incomplete. Product data is inconsistent, real-world purchasing behavior is fragmented, availability signals are unreliable, and measurement lacks objectivity. These gaps limit the accuracy, trust, and scalability of AI-driven commerce—and can determine whether products are represented, recommended, or overlooked entirely.
Building the Intelligence Layer for Agentic Commerce
The NIQ Commerce Lab will advance a core pillar of NIQ’s AI strategy: Commerce Intelligence.
Commerce Intelligence is NIQ’s approach to bringing together the full range of signals that shape the market—product, consumer, and retailer data—into a unified system that can understand complex dynamics and power AI-driven decisions that were previously out of reach.
“NIQ has built the data infrastructure for how commerce actually works,” said Jim Peck, Chairman and CEO of NIQ. “Enabled by AI, we are making a fundamental shift—from measurement and analytics to reading signals in real time and acting on them with confidence. Commerce Intelligence is how we will deliver the intelligence layer the market will depend on, today and in the future.”
Through the Commerce Lab, NIQ will address six interconnected opportunities required to make Commerce Intelligence real at scale, including:
- Preference Intelligence — understanding what consumers want
- Product Intelligence — ensuring products are accurately represented
- Availability Intelligence — connecting recommendations to real-world inventory
- Purchase Verification — validating what was actually bought
- Channel Measurement — establishing objective performance and ROI
- Optimization Intelligence — enabling continuous improvement
Together, these capabilities are designed to form the intelligence layer that allows AI systems to move from approximation to precision.
Why NIQ
NIQ is uniquely advantaged to build Commerce Intelligence at global scale, combining the data infrastructure, retailer relationships, and neutrality required to fuel AI-driven decisions in commerce.
- Proprietary Data Infrastructure: NIQ operates data pipelines that ingest point-of-sale transactions from thousands of retailers across nearly every country where commerce happens. This is a technology asset that cannot be recreated by any platform, retailer, or new entrant within the relevant time horizon.
- Structured Product Knowledge at Scale: NIQ’s product catalog represents hundreds of millions of items enriched with billions of structured attributes, generated and maintained by thousands of AI models running continuously. This is the system AI agents need to resolve consumer intent to specific products.
- Closed-Loop Measurement: NIQ links behavior across platforms, channels, and retailers to verified purchase outcomes. This is the measurement infrastructure the category requires to function, and no platform with commercial interests in the transaction can credibly provide it.
- Neutral Advantaged Technology Partner: As an independent party with no retail operation, no advertising platform, and no channel conflict, NIQ is the go-to infrastructure provider participants can trust with the data the market requires.
Enabling the Next Phase of Commerce
The Commerce Lab will serve to develop the intelligence infrastructure to:
- Identify emerging commerce signals and dynamics shaping how decisions are made
- Develop new data and measurement capabilities
- Run pilot programs to understand agentic purchasing behavior
- Partner across the AI and commerce ecosystem
- Establish emerging industry standards
Leadership
NIQ is accelerating its AI agenda with the appointment of Lisa Lovallo Ceppos as Head of AI Commerce. Joining from Google, where she led product strategy for ad effectiveness measurement and Google Maps integration into Vertex AI, Lovallo Ceppos will lead NIQ’s AI commerce product strategy and the continued development of the Commerce Lab—further cementing NIQ’s position at the forefront of Commerce Intelligence.
To learn more about NIQ’s new Commerce Lab, visit niq.com/agentic-commerce.
About NIQ
NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete and trusted understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. By combining an unmatched global data footprint and granular consumer and retail measurement with decades of AI modeling expertise, NIQ builds decision systems that help companies turn complex data into confident action.
With operations in more than 90 countries, NIQ covers approximately 82% of the world’s population and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend. Through cloud-based platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, NIQ delivers The Full View™—helping brands and retailers understand what consumers buy, why they buy it, and what to do next.
For more information, please visit www.niq.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements address various matters, including statements about anticipated timelines, benefits, features, and outcomes of NIQ Commerce Lab and related capabilities and other statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts. These statements are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and NIQ undertakes no obligation to update them except as required by law.
Media Contact: media.relations@nielseniq.com
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FAQ: NIQ Commerce Lab and AI-Driven Commerce
- What is the NIQ Commerce Lab?
The NIQ Commerce Lab is where NIQ discovers, builds, and launches the intelligence infrastructure for AI-driven commerce. It showcases new data assets, measurement methodologies, and partnerships that help the industry better understand and improve how products are discovered, selected, and purchased in AI-powered environments.
- What is Commerce Intelligence?
Commerce Intelligence is NIQ’s new approach to bringing together the full range of signals that shape the market—product, consumer, and retailer data—into a unified system that can understand complex dynamics and power AI-driven decisions that were previously out of reach.
This includes what the industry often refers to as agentic commerce, but extends across quick commerce, social commerce, and other emerging channels—where AI is becoming the common layer shaping how products are discovered, evaluated, and purchased.
- Why is AI-driven commerce different from traditional e-commerce?
In AI-driven or agentic commerce, AI systems and agents increasingly influence or execute product discovery, selection, and purchasing decisions. This creates new signals as consumers change how they interact with brands and platforms, shifting from search and browsing to automated, intent-driven recommendations and transactions.
- What problems is NIQ solving through the Commerce Lab?
NIQ is advancing a set of interconnected intelligence opportunities that power this shift:
- Preference Intelligence — understanding who consumers are and what they want
- Product Intelligence — ensuring products are accurately represented and discoverable
- Availability Intelligence — connecting recommendations to real-world inventory and fulfillment
- Purchase Verification — validating what was actually bought across channels
- Channel Measurement — establishing objective performance and ROI standards
- Optimization Intelligence — enabling continuous improvement across the commerce lifecycle
Together, these six intelligence opportunities define the data and measurement foundation required for AI-driven commerce to operate reliably and at scale.
- Why does AI-driven commerce require new measurement standards?
As AI systems begin to influence and execute transactions, traditional digital metrics alone are no longer sufficient. Business decision-makers need objective, third-party measurement to understand performance, validate ROI, and compare results across platforms and channels before shifting meaningful budgets and attention to a new channel. Without this, adoption of AI-driven commerce will be limited.
- How does NIQ enable AI-driven commerce?
NIQ enables AI-driven commerce by providing:
- Real-world transaction data
- Deep consumer intelligence linked to demographics and behavior
- Rich product data and attributes for accurate matching to user intent
- Independent, third-party measurement and ROI validation
These capabilities help ensure AI systems operate with accurate, complete, and trusted information.
- What makes NIQ different from other data or AI providers?
NIQ is uniquely advantaged to build Commerce Intelligence at global scale, combining the data infrastructure, retailer relationships, and neutrality required to fuel AI-driven decisions in commerce.
- What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce refers to AI-driven systems or agents that can discover products, evaluate options, and make or influence purchasing decisions on behalf of consumers or businesses. This represents a shift from manual search and browsing to automated, intent-driven commerce experiences.
While the industry often refers to this shift as agentic commerce, it is only one way AI may show up. As AI transforms platforms, interfaces, and workflows, NIQ expects that its usage in commerce will go beyond standalone “agents.”
The more fundamental change is that AI is becoming the system that drives decisions across commerce—regardless of how it is delivered.
That is why NIQ focuses on Commerce Intelligence: the data, measurement, and context that power these decisions. Whether through agents, assistants, or embedded AI systems, outcomes depend on the quality of the intelligence behind them.
- How will AI-driven commerce impact businesses?
AI-driven commerce is changing the consumer path to purchase in new ways that we don’t fully understand yet. What we do know is that it will change how companies:
- Reach and influence consumers
- Optimize product discovery and assortment
- Measure performance and ROI
- Allocate marketing and media spend
Businesses that adapt to AI-driven decision environments will be better positioned to compete and grow.
- What is NIQ’s role in the future of commerce?
NIQ is building the Commerce Intelligence layer that powers AI-driven commerce. Through the Commerce Lab and its global data assets, NIQ is helping define how commerce will be measured, optimized, and scaled in an AI-driven world.
