Everywhere in the media and the retail industry since January, the term “agentic commerce” covers 2 very different realities: using AI to shop and entrusting a purchase to an autonomous agent. It is this second aspect that is currently generating excitement across the technology and financial ecosystem, with LLMs, retailers and investors all vying for control of this new interface between consumers and e-commerce. Meta’s Muse agent, launched on September 8 and boasting 10.9 million downloads and 2.5 million daily active users worldwide just 40 days after a launch, promises to transform e-commerce by enabling artificial intelligence systems to make purchases autonomously on behalf of consumers. This agent, which uses Plaid’s connector to enable agentic commerce, is designed to protect consumers. A single-use card number is generated for each transaction and the AI agent requests the user’s authorisation before making any purchase.
US retailers divided over the rise of autonomous shopping agents
In the US, Gap, Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon and eBay are taking very different approaches to agentic commerce. While TV shopping giants QVC and HSN see these new intermediaries as an opportunity to increase their visibility, others are taking a more cautious approach or even blocking them altogether. The contrast highlights the challenges facing the sector as consumers remain determined to keep control of their spending.
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