Agentic Commerce Part 1: Hype or the next big eCommerce shift?

As OpenAI rolls out its fully integrated eCommerce agent in ChatGPT, Amazon tests its Buy for Me tool, and generative AI traffic continues to surge, a new kind of eCommerce is taking shape — one driven not just by human shoppers, but by AI agents acting on their behalf.

And with Google officially launching its AI-powered Search, the shift toward AI-led product discovery is no longer theoretical — it’s here.

A bold new trend is taking hold in eCommerce: Agentic Commerce. It may sound futuristic, but it’s already here.

In this article, we explore whether this is just another overhyped AI story or the signs of a major shift in the Digital Commerce ecosystem.

What is Agentic Commerce?

Agentic Commerce refers to shopping journeys handled by AI agents on behalf of humans. These "digital shoppers", often embedded in virtual assistants, apps, and other tools, can search for products, compare prices, evaluate quality, manage delivery options, and even complete transactions leading to fully autonomous shopping experiences.

Rather than browsing your site, a customer might soon just say, "Find me the best running shoes under £100 with free next-day delivery."

The AI agent does the rest - evaluates options, compares retailers, and makes the purchase. What used to be a simple transaction becomes a dynamic marketplace, where agents manage the process on behalf of both buyers and sellers. In this environment, how your platform performs, and how easily machines can understand it, will directly affect whether you’re included in the shortlist or overlooked entirely.

Are AI agents really set to disrupt commerce - hype or reality?

Retail is no stranger to tech trends that over-promise and under-deliver. So it's fair to ask, is Agentic Commerce more buzz than business?

A few reasons why scepticism is understandable:

• There's a lot of AI noise right now. Businesses are rushing to add "AI" onto everything.

• MCP (Model Context Protocol), one of the enablers of Agentic Commerce, is still evolving.

• Many retailers are still focused on improving human user journeys rather than preparing for autonomous AI traffic.

However, it's becoming clear that this is not just hype.

Signs that Agentic Commerce isn't just hype

Here are three key reasons Agentic Commerce demands serious attention.

1. It’s already happening

• Major players are launching real production tools. Open AI introduced Operator its AI Agent designed to handle eCommerce on behalf of users. Partnering with major eCommerce brands including Ebay, Etsy and Instacart. As of July it became fully integrated into ChatGPT.

• Earlier this year Amazon actively tested its "Buy for Me" feature ahead of Prime Day, allowing shoppers to use agentic AI to buy products from third-party retailers from within the Amazon app.

• OpenAI is integrating Shopify into ChatGPT  to enable a seamless online shopping experience, this could expand to other eCommerce platforms.

• AI-powered search engines such as Nvidia's-backed Perplexity are already driving measurable retail traffic right now, not just in the future, and are set to increase their influence with plans to preinstall their Comet browser on mobile devices.

• 24% of US adults are already comfortable with agents shopping for them and that rises to 32% among Gen Z Source: Salesforce

2. Traffic patterns are shifting

New sources are already influencing discoverability and conversion. Adobe reported a 3,300% increase YoY in retail traffic from generative AI tools, such as the large language model (LLM) ChatGPT, AI-powered search engine Perplexity and other virtual assistants and web browsers. Even if total volume is still relatively small, the trajectory is steep and real.

Gartner predicts that within the next 3 years, AI agent customers will replace 20% of interactions at digital storefronts. This is not a minor trend; it is an emerging ecosystem.

Agentic interfaces, LLMs and context-aware APIs could fundamentally change how, where, and when retail happens:

3. It aligns with the market - everyone's a winner

AI agents help by:

• Reducing friction for shoppers

• Speeding up purchasing decisions

• Unlocking new devices and platforms for discovery

Retailers benefit by:

• Increasing conversion potential

• Reducing customer effort

• Gaining brand exposure through agent-led journeys

And this is not just a B2C story

In B2B Commerce, where purchases are often repeat, low-consideration, or bulk, AI agents can streamline procurement, speed up decision-making, and reduce manual effort.

Final thoughts

To succeed in an agent-first world, retailers will need more than a traditional website. They’ll need machine-readable ecosystems that AI agents can understand and transact with, and infrastructure that delivers the speed, accuracy, and reliability these agents expect.

That’s where emerging frameworks like the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Google’s Agent2Agent (A2A) come in.

In Part 2, we’ll explore what MCP means, why it matters, and how digital retailers can start preparing for the Agentic Era, from data structure to performance readiness.

At thinkTRIBE, we help digital teams gain the CX visibility, performance, and resilience they need to stay ahead in an AI-first world.

Find out more about how we support retailers here.