What is Agentic Commerce? Exploring AI Shopping Agents

Current online shopping has shoppers juggling multiple browser tabs, comparing prices between sites, scrolling through reviews, and handling every step of the buying process on their own. Now, agentic commerce is introducing something completely different: hands-off shopping. AI shopping agents are creating an online marketplace where you can say "find me a good laptop for video editing under $1,500,” and they research options, compare specs and reviews, negotiate prices, and complete the purchase for you.

That reality might feel like science fiction, but it’s already here. Amazon’s already testing “Buy for Me,” PayPal launched an Agent Toolkit, and Visa and Mastercard are building payment systems specifically for AI shopping agents. This is the rise of agentic commerce, where intelligent AI agents don’t just help with shopping—they do the shopping for you.

What is agentic commerce?

Agentic commerce is a form of AI-powered shopping where autonomous agents research, compare, and purchase products or services on behalf of consumers or businesses. This new shopping experience delegates the entire buying process to intelligent AI systems that can act independently within user-defined parameters.

AI shopping agents are the equivalent of having a personal shopper who never sleeps, processes thousands of options instantly, and learns your preferences with every interaction. But instead of just recommending products, these AI agents actually complete purchases (from initial search through final payment).

How does agentic commerce work?

The “agentic” part comes from the concept of agency: the ability to act independently and make decisions. Chatbots respond to your questions and recommendation engines suggest products, but agentic AI takes initiative. These single-agent and multi-agent solutions don’t wait for you to ask nitty-gritty questions or hold its hand. It proactively identifies needs, finds solutions, and executes purchases.

This marks a shift from reactive to proactive commerce. Your AI agent might notice you’re running low on coffee based on your purchase history and automatically reorder your preferred brand. Or it could monitor flight prices for a trip you mentioned and book tickets when they hit your target price range.

Traditional commerce vs agentic commerce

While traditional commerce puts the burden of discovery, evaluation, and transaction completion entirely on the consumer, agentic commerce delegates these responsibilities to intelligent systems that can execute purchases based on learned preferences and predefined goals. Here’s how they stack up:

Agentic vs. conversational commerce: what’s the difference?

Conversational commerce is the generative AI that most of us know today. You chat with a bot, it suggests products, and maybe helps you compare options. Think of Sephora’s chatbot that recommends makeup based on your skin tone, or a hotel booking bot that shows available rooms. You’re still driving the conversation, making decisions, and clicking “buy” yourself. The AI assists, but you’re in the driver’s seat for every step.

Agentic commerce isn’t adding on to this process, it’s completely changing it. Instead of you asking questions and making choices, you set goals and let the AI agent achieve them. You don’t shop at all—the agent shops for you.

Here’s a practical example:

• Conversational commerce might help you find running shoes by answering questions about your preferences, showing options, and providing detailed comparisons.

• Agentic commerce would analyze your running habits, budget, past purchases, and current inventory, then automatically order the right shoes when your current pair hits a certain mileage threshold. To gather this level of insight, AI agents might collect data through integrations with fitness trackers like Apple Watch to monitor activity patterns, connect with banking apps to understand spending habits, and sync with previous purchase histories across platforms.

Ultimately, conversational commerce requires continuous human input and decision-making, while agentic commerce operates autonomously once you’ve established parameters and permissions. One assists your shopping experience. The other does the shopping entirely.

Advantages and drawbacks of agentic commerce

Agentic commerce isn’t the end-all-be-all solution for every shopping scenario. Autonomous agents are great at routine purchases and complex research tasks, but they can’t replicate the joy of browsing or the satisfaction of discovering something unexpected.

The technology works best when it complements rather than completely replaces traditional shopping methods.

Pros of agentic commerce

• Time savings: AI agents handle entire shopping workflows. That’s everything from initial research through purchase completion. This frees users from hours of comparison shopping and decision-making fatigue (not to mention paralysis by analysis).

• Hyper-personalized recommendations: Agents learn individual preferences, budgets, and purchasing patterns to make super-accurate decisions that align with the user’s needs and lifestyle changes.

• 24/7 autonomous operation: Shopping assistance and purchases happen around the clock without human intervention, and that helps users to lock in better deals, restock essentials, or book time-sensitive services anytime.

• Elimination of choice overload: Agents filter through thousands of options to find the best-of-the-best selections with overwhelming product variety.

• Better price optimization: Agents can monitor price fluctuations across multiple retailers and automatically purchase when items hit target prices or optimal value points.

Cons of agentic commerce

• Loss of shopping experience: Eliminates the browsing, discovery, and emotional satisfaction many consumers enjoy in traditional retail experiences.

• Security and control concerns: Users have to trust AI agents with payment authorization and purchasing decisions, and that creates potential vulnerabilities around fraud, overspending, or unauthorized transactions.

• Reduced merchant influence: Brands lose direct customer touchpoints and may struggle to differentiate products or build relationships when agents make purely data-driven purchasing decisions.

• Technology dependence risks: System failures, algorithm errors, or data inaccuracies could disrupt purchasing processes and lead to wrong orders or missed opportunities.

• Implementation complexity: Platforms, payment systems, and inventory management tools will all need to integrate and update infrastructure to support these changes.

Real-world examples of agentic commerce in action

Major tech and payments companies are already deploying autonomous shopping agents. These early examples show how AI agents move beyond conversation into actual purchasing behavior:

1. Amazon’s “Buy for Me” feature: This AI agent (currently in beta) can purchase products from third-party websites without users leaving the Amazon app. When something isn’t available on Amazon, the agent searches the broader web, places orders, and completes transactions autonomously.

2. PayPal’s Agent Toolkit and Perplexity partnership: PayPal lets AI agents process payments through their Agentic Toolkit, and Perplexity’s “Buy with Pro” allows users to research and purchase products directly within chat conversations.

3. Mastercard Agent Pay and Visa Intelligent Commerce: Both payment networks launched tokenization tech to allow secure autonomous payments. These systems let AI agents complete purchases, but they give the user control over spending limits and authorization protocols (you might have to confirm an agent purchase before it processes).

4. Google’s AI Mode shopping: Google’s experimental shopping experience tracks product prices, monitors availability, and can automatically purchase items when they meet user-defined criteria.

5. Enterprise procurement automation: B2B platforms use AI agents to monitor inventory levels and automatically reorder supplies when stock reaches predetermined thresholds.

6. Subscription and recurring purchase agents: Smart agents manage household essentials by analyzing consumption patterns and automatically reordering items like groceries, cleaning supplies, or pet food before they run out.

Challenges (and solutions) to agentic commerce

Agentic commerce technology is here, but it’s not all smooth sailing (yet). There are technical hurdles to overcome, but businesses that take the investment risk might claim bigger pieces of the agentic AI pie.

Currently, data quality is the biggest issue

AI agents make purchases based on product information, but most e-commerce catalogs weren’t designed for machine browsing. You can imagine how inconsistent product descriptions, missing specifications, and outdated inventory data could mislead agents. Platforms will need to make major system changes (standardized attributes, real-time inventory updates, and machine-readable structured data) to make this autonomous future scalable. Companies that invest in product data architecture today position themselves as go-to suppliers for tomorrow’s AI agents.

Users want control, but AI agents need autonomy to do their job

Customers want to be confident that AI agents don’t go rogue and make unauthorized purchases. The answer is:

• Advanced tokenization technology

• Biometric authentication

• Spending controls

That’s exactly what payment networks like Visa and Mastercard are deploying, but not every user will want to be the guinea pig that lets AI experiment with their credit card. The technology will need to prove itself through transparent transaction logs and clear accountability measures before widespread consumer adoption becomes realistic.

Consumer trust is the ultimate gatekeeper

Already, shoppers reserve big-ticket purchases for their desktop devices. And now they’re going to just turn the metaphoric wallet over to a smart robot? In time, yes, but platforms will need to build trust with transparent processes, easy opt-out mechanisms, and gradual introduction of agentic features. That’ll start with low-risk purchases like household essentials before expanding to more bigger buying decisions (electronics, plane tickets, and the like).

Regulatory uncertainty clouds the legal landscape

When an AI agent makes an erroneous purchase, who’s at fault? The users, the platform, or the payment processor? It’s going to take a bit of time and work to determine liability between consumers, merchants, and technology providers. We’ll need to see clear terms of service, reliable audit trails, and collaboration with regulators before we see widespread adoption.

Agentic commerce FAQs

What is agentic commerce?

Agentic commerce is AI-powered shopping where autonomous agents research, compare, and purchase products on behalf of users. These agents act independently within user-defined parameters to complete entire purchasing workflows.

How is agentic commerce different from conversational commerce?

Conversational commerce involves chatting with AI assistants that suggest products and answer questions, but you still make all the purchasing decisions. Agentic commerce delegates the actual buying process to AI agents that can autonomously complete transactions based on your preferences and authorization.

Is agentic commerce secure?

The leading implementations use security measures like authentication, tokenization, and spending controls. Users can maintain oversight through authorization settings and transaction monitoring. Meanwhile, payment networks like Visa and Mastercard have developed agent-specific security protocols.

How can I prepare for agentic commerce?

For consumers, start by familiarizing yourself with AI shopping tools and setting clear spending preferences. You could always try these tools for yourself with smaller purchasing limits (it’s easier to let AI agents buy toothpaste for you than your next smartphone). For businesses, focus on optimizing product data quality, implementing structured data markup, and developing agent-friendly APIs that can integrate with autonomous shopping systems.

When will agentic commerce become mainstream?

Amazon, PayPal, and major payment networks are already deploying agent functionality, so early adoption is happening now. Industry analysts predict 25% of enterprises will use autonomous AI agents by 2025 with broader consumer adoption (50% or more) following over the next 2-3 years.

What products work best for agentic commerce?

Routine purchases like groceries and household essentials are great places to start. After that, clearly defined items like electronics with specific technical requirements.

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