AI Changes the Way We Shop
AI agents are changing the way we shop with agentic commerce, handling end-to-end shopping experiences for consumers using AI technology.
Agentic commerce is reshaping the consumer journey, with AI agents handling the end-to-end shopping experience for consumers. This marks a fundamental shift in how shoppers discover, evaluate, and purchase products. By 2030, agentic AI is projected to account for 15%–25% of total U.S. e-commerce, according to Bain & Company.
Agentic commerce is a type of digital commerce in which autonomous AI systems act on behalf of customers to discover products, evaluate options, apply incentives, and complete purchases.
Laurens Van Wiele, chief product officer at Talon.One, said the decisions brands make now will shape how they compete for years to come. “With any new technology, early adopters are usually rewarded for having already built a reputation and built the trust that they can handle the technology and are good at it,” Van Wiele said.
There are several key terms in agentic commerce, including Unified Incentives Protocol (UIP). UIP is a set of standards that defines how to expose loyalty and promotions in a unified, machine-readable way across agent-led shopping journeys.
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Laurens Van Wiele said that traditional loyalty mechanics, including point balances, tier benefits, and member-exclusive offers, are currently invisible to AI agents because they aren’t exposed as structured, machine-readable data like discounts are.
To prepare for this shift to agent-led shopping journeys, brands must ensure their promotions and loyalty are centralized and visible to AI agents in real-time, with clear rules and customer identity attached, Van Wiele said.
Without a single system to govern discounts, margins can erode quickly.
But if incentives are centralized and controlled, there will be less chance for abuse of discounts or promotions.
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When properly surfaced, membership data can enable AI agents to weigh a consumer’s brand preference and perks alongside discounts, rather than defaulting to savings from price alone.
As the technology continues to evolve, it’s likely that we’ll see more brands adopting agentic commerce and developing new strategies to compete in this space.
One possible outcome is that brands will focus on creating more personalized experiences for their customers, using data and AI to tailor their offerings and improve customer loyalty.
Van Wiele said that “Everything happens on one screen.”
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In a traditional model, shoppers browse websites or perhaps a top 10 ranking to decide what to buy and then place the order on a merchant’s website.
Agentic commerce brings all of these aspects into a single window, which is the conversation with your AI assistant, like ChatGPT.
With the technology still evolving, it’s clear that agentic commerce is going to play a major role in the future of e-commerce.
