Attribution, AI Agents, and the New Rules of Discovery with Roshni Nambiar

Roshni Nambiar, Senior Director of DTC Analytics & Strategy at Unilever Prestige Group, joins Renee Hartman and Chris Baker to unpack how AI, social commerce, and shifting discovery habits are reshaping the customer journey in beauty and CPG.

Roshni brings a rare full-circle view of e-commerce, having built marketing technology at companies like Oracle, run analytics for automotive brands at an agency, and now leading DTC and Amazon analytics across eight luxury beauty brands. In this conversation, she breaks down why the path to purchase has become a "zigzag line" with no predictable pattern, how TikTok and Instagram are outpacing legacy retail channels in growth, and why content, not tactics, is becoming the new currency of discovery as AI search and generative engine optimization take hold.

The conversation also digs into where agent-to-agent commerce is heading, what that means for brand loyalty and lifetime value, and why first-party data and a solid attribution model remain the anchor points brands need no matter how fast the landscape shifts.

In this episode:

Why the post-pandemic e-commerce boom slowed in early 2025 and what's driving the rebound

How TikTok and Instagram evolved from content platforms into product discovery and social commerce engines

The difference between impulse-driven buying in color cosmetics versus retention in skincare

Why authentic content, not SEO tactics, is becoming the key to visibility in AI-driven search

Where the line sits between useful AI-generated content and content that backfires with consumers

How agent-to-agent commerce could change the role of brand websites and reshape customer loyalty

Why CAC to LTV ratio remains a non-negotiable fundamental, even as checkout increasingly moves to AI bots

How fragmented discovery and checkout across platforms is breaking traditional attribution models