“Blend Commerce deliver real value from day one. The practical, actionable information they share in their emails is remarkable.
- Subscription sign-ups increased by 61%.
- Overall store conversion rate improved by 14%.
The most impressive part is that we achieved all of this purely by using the data and tools Blend make freely available.”
Oooo, there were some ‘spicy’ takes flying around on social media this past week.
But whichever side you pick, it’s great news for brands.
Apparently, “Big SaaS platforms are gunning to make agencies redundant.”
This is because they’re baking AI into their products so brands can rely less on agencies and do more themselves.
Now, I don’t believe these platforms are sitting in board meetings brewing up evil plots on how to kill agencies.
They are focusing on how they can evolve and improve to stay ahead of their competitors.
If they don’t (and their competitors do), they know their customers will churn.
And right now, the land grab is AI and automation.
And that’s the great news for brands… and agencies.
Neither wants to spend time on the boring stuff.
Most of this AI and automation targets low-value execution.
Meaning you and your agency can focus on the high-value work.
So yes, the argument holds for agencies that only charge for tasks AI can perform.
They’ll get squeezed out.
But it also means agencies will have to become more specialised, with deeper platform knowledge and expertise.
So not only are you getting better platforms, you should end up with better agencies, too.
Chat soon,
Peter
P.S. Tomorrow, I’ll share the bad news and a checklist on what you can do about it.
About the author
Peter Gardner Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
Peter Gardner is the Australia-based co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Blend Commerce, the specialist Shopify CRO agency named Global CRO Agency of the Year 2026. He helps established Shopify brands improve conversion rate, average order value and repeat purchase by combining quantitative data, qualitative customer insight and structured experimentation.
Peter writes the Shopify CRO Newsletter and is known for the Buy Trifecta®, a framework focused on helping customers Buy Now, Buy More and Buy Again, while using prioritisation models such as PECTI to help brands focus on the highest-impact CRO opportunities.
Peter also co-founded the eCom Collab Club®, a dynamic eCommerce community that connects and empowers eCommerce professionals through events, networking opportunities, and educational resources.
“Blend Commerce deliver real value from day one. The practical, actionable information they share in their emails is remarkable.
- Subscription sign-ups increased by 61%.
- Overall store conversion rate improved by 14%.
The most impressive part is that we achieved all of this purely by using the data and tools Blend make freely available.”
