What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce is shopping in which AI agents do part of the work of buying and selling. An agent acting for the shopper can find, compare and buy products. An agent acting for the retailer can answer questions, recommend products and guide the shopper to checkout. Either way, the agent takes actions for the shopper or the retailer.
Also called: agentic shopping, AI shopping agents, agent-led commerce
Why agentic commerce matters
Agentic commerce moved from idea to infrastructure in 2025. Mastercard launched Agent Pay and Visa launched Visa Intelligent Commerce in April, Google announced its Agent Payments Protocol in September, and OpenAI and Stripe released the Agentic Commerce Protocol the same month. Each gives AI agents a way to make purchases with the shopper's permission.
Shoppers are starting to use AI to shop. Adobe reported that traffic from generative AI tools to US retail sites rose 693.4% year on year over the 2025 holiday season, while noting that the base of users is still modest.
For retailers, agentic commerce has two sides. Product data needs to be accurate and machine-readable so that outside agents can find and recommend it. On their own websites and channels, retailers can deploy their own agents to answer questions and help shoppers decide.
Example
Mattress brand DreamCloud uses an AI agent to give product recommendations in chat around the clock. It reports a 14% chat conversion rate and a 293% return on investment, based on revenue from those recommendations.
Agentic commerce and DigitalGenius
DigitalGenius answers shoppers' pre-purchase questions and recommends products from the brand's live catalog within the conversation, asking questions to narrow down the options.
Read more
FAQ
What's the difference between agentic commerce and conversational commerce?
Conversational commerce is buying and selling through a conversation, such as chat or messaging, where the shopper makes the decisions. Agentic commerce goes further: an AI agent can take actions, such as recommending, adding to cart or completing a purchase, on behalf of the shopper or the retailer.
How do payments work when an AI agent buys something?
Payment protocols for agents pass a secure, permissioned payment token from the shopper to the merchant, so purchases can be made without exposing the shopper's card details. The shopper sets what the agent may buy, and the retailer usually remains the merchant of record.
How can retailers prepare for agentic commerce?
Keep product data complete and accurate, including prices, stock, sizes and policies, so AI agents can read it. Make sure your own channels can answer pre-purchase questions and recommend products well, and track how much traffic and revenue AI tools already send you.
· By Iain Moss