The Rise of Agentic Commerce: How AI will Transform Buyer Behaviors

If you’re plugged into the tech grapevine, no doubt you’ll have heard the latest news causing chatter within the AI space. Agentic commerce is here! When OpenAI first announced their plans to introduce in-agent transactions earlier in the year, rumours abounded as to what this would be and what shape this would take. Within the retail sector specifically, some have been readying themselves for what could be a seismic shift in their industry.

Well, now it’s finally here! On September 29th, Etsy became the first marketplace to support transactions via agentic commerce, while Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify, has announced their own integration is coming “very soon”. While many retailers are alert to the developments taking place, the somewhat cagey announcements from OpenAI have left some in the lurch, wondering what exactly the changes will mean and how best to prepare.

The good news is, at Loqate, we’ve been preparing for this shift for some time, and we’re here to advise! Our team have kept their fingers on the pulse of this advancing technology and dove deep to understand the nuts and bolts. Let’s get started by taking a look at what agentic commerce is, and how you can expect things to change over the months ahead.

What is Agentic Commerce?

First things first, what is agentic commerce? It’s a complex topic, but our best one-line definition is “using autonomous AI agents to proactively execute personalized transactions for users“. Now, let’s dig into how that works in more detail, and explore what all the fuss is about.

Autonomous AI agents are powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), which allow them to run searches on user queries and provide detailed answers, being responsive to the personal needs of the user. Now, with OpenAI’s announcement of Agentic Commerce, users can go one step further and make purchases using that same AI client.

Unlike conventional e-commerce, which requires human navigation through websites or apps, agentic systems enable AI to interpret user intent, search inventories, negotiate terms, and complete purchases independently.

How Does Agentic Commerce Actually Work, Though?

Understanding the underlying process behind Agentic Commerce will be key if you’re looking to incorporating it into your retail systems. Without getting too technical, Agentic Commerce harnesses a combination of LLMs for natural language understanding, application programming interfaces (APIs) for system integration, and secure protocols for transactions.

This process plays out in an order roughly like this:

1. Capturing Intent

First things first, an AI user will articulate the requirement they have using an agent, whether by voice or text. The AI then works to parse those requirements, factoring in any useful additional information the user provides, like budget or timelines.

2. Parsing and Discovery

With the user’s request in hand, the AI agent rumbles into life. Typically, its process will involve breaking down the initial request into sub-steps, and querying multiple data sources via APIs from retailers, suppliers, or marketplaces, and then evaluating those options based on criteria like price, availability, and reviews.

3.Making the Big Decision

Using historical data and machine learning, as well as key details from the user’s request (e.g. pricing constraints), the agent will then select optimal choices. OpenAI say that their agentic commerce feature already includes the ability to negotiate dynamically through agent-to-agent interactions, such as price haggling or bulk discounts. As a result, users are likely to find the best possible price available to them by using this feature. Nifty!

4. It’s A Deal...

Ker-ching! If the user is happy with the agent’s recommendations, secure payment processing can then take place, which uses tokenized credentials to ensure compliance with standards like PCI DSS. The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), co-developed by OpenAI and Stripe, facilitates this interoperability – but there are more options fast developing. Visa were next to join the party, announcing their own trusted agent protocol on October 15th, and PayPal are set to follow imminently.

What Impact Will Agentic Commerce Have?

While there’s definitely healthy debate in the industry about the extent to which agentic commerce will change the retail game, we think it’s going to be a major change that retail businesses will want to take very seriously indeed.

Even if the initial impact is not enormous – with ChatGPT only supporting Etsy transactions currently, and Shopify to imminently follow – given the rapid pace at which AI has progressed in its short lifespan, it’s surely only a matter of time before all major retail platforms follow suit. Agentic Commerce is set to have a major impact on retail business operations, offering efficiencies while necessitating strategic adaptations. Early adopters report 6-10% revenue increases and up to 40% improvements in operational efficiency.

Here are the key benefits we foresee for retailers with the dawn of Agentic Commerce:

Next-level personalisation and customisation

Agents can access rich customer data to deliver hyper-personalized experiences, remembering preferences across interactions like past queries and transactions, boosting conversion rates.

Supply Chain and Inventory made simple

Working in a B2B capacity, AI agents can automate procurement, forecast demand, and manage inventory in real-time using data handily accessed from APIs like Shopify’s, reducing sockouts and overstock..

AI-powered Customer Service

With agentic commerce, AI agents can handle enquiries, returns, and support, freeing your human resources for high-value strategic tasks. This scales operations without proportional headcount increases.

Data-Driven Insights

AI agents with Agentic Commerce functionality are set to harness aggregated transaction data, providing you with analytics for refining product strategies and marketing, and crucially enabling predictive modelling which will account for market trends.

Are there risks involved with Agentic Commerce?

While the dawn of Agentic Commerce is rightfully a source of excitement for the retail industry, with any new technology there are risks to consider.

In the case of Agentic Commerce, the potential problems to consider revolve aroundreduced direct customer access. Without the direct connection to customers, either within a shop floor or through direct online exposure, there’s a potential of lower brand loyalty and customer lifetime value, with dependence on AI intermediaries potentially eroding control. One way to counteract this might be to invest in robust APIs and enlist data governance strategies to ensure your customer experience is tip-top.

As data validation experts, we’d be remiss not to mention the fact that the potential for vastly increased customer transactions using AI clients means the importance of clean data has never been higher. Even the smartest AI in the world can’t ensure the details entered during customer transactions is correct, especially when processing so many transactions worldwide. Plus, AI agents are equipped with machine-learning capability, meaning accurate data will fuel better and more relevant suggestions directly to your customers in future.

That’s where Loqate comes in – verifying addresses, globally accurate geolocations, emails and phone numbers right at the point of entry, so that every AI-driven transaction can be processed with confidence, with a successful delivery the end result, and customers knowing your brand is one they can trust. Loqate’s software, expertly enhanced on a regular basis by AI experts, is perfectly tailored to meet the challenges posed by Agentic Commerce and AI transacting.

What does the future hold for Agentic Commerce?

As we write this in October 2025, agentic commerce is poised for exponential growth. Adobe forecasts over 50% of consumers using AI shopping assistants by year-end. Gartner predicts agents will replace 20% of human e-commerce interactions by 2028. Ark Invest, meanwhile, estimates a $1-2 trillion market by 2030, driven by multi-agent ecosystems.

As for the future, the key trends we envisage are vastly expanded integrations across platforms, expansion into other industries (e.g. quotes and contracts in manufacturing), a greatly increased amount of regulation and standards for AI transactions, and the expansion of marketplaces who are set to benefit as the retail sector moves away from siloed storefronts.

Wrapping Up: Make Adoption of Agentic Commerce A Business Priority

As we hope our humble guide has demonstrated, agentic commerce really is reshaping operational landscapes, even at this early adoption stage. That means you’ll need to ensure your store makes AI optimisation a core priority to capitalise upon of the opportunity ahead.

While the potential opportunity on offer to retailers is gigantic, the scope for huge expansion of global transactions using AI means clean data has never been more paramount. While AI agents can process transactions and capture customer data in their client, even the most powerful agents in the world can’t actually check that data in real-time to ensure inputs are correct. Given users of agentic commerce won’t interact with your brand directly – neither on the shop floor or accessing your website – this could pose huge potential problems for customer trust if deliveries miss their mark, lowering your customer lifetime value and reputation, not to mention the costs of failed delivery that you’ll incur.

That’s where we come in. Loqate checks and validates every line of your customer data in real-time, ensuring all customer inputs are real and accessible, with globally accurate geolocations for extra confidence. With Loqate, you’ll know that every customer making a transaction via an agent has the potential to become a repeat buyer and can trust your brand to deliver. As a huge and untapped global market of consumers opens for your brand, don’t let unreliable fulfilment and bad data hold you back. Our software is perfectly tailored to the challenges of agentic commerce and can support your scalable growth within the next era of online retail.

We’ve been preparing for this moment and we are ready to help you navigate this transformative shift. Find out more by adding your details below: