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AI agents can now shop and buy on your customers' behalf. Learn what agentic commerce is, why adoption has stalled, and what merchants should do to prepare for what's next.
Last year, agentic commerce hit the market, and the headlines said we would never shop the same way again. In reality, the new technology hasn’t taken off like it was expected to.
Here’s what actually happened: OpenAI launched Instant Checkout in September 2025, and Walmart and Target signed on within weeks. By March 2026, OpenAI had quietly pulled the feature back. Walmart reported that in-chat purchases converted at about one-third the rate of those that required clicking out to its own site.
If the biggest names in retail hit pause on AI shopping, what does that mean for a growing business that’s been wondering whether to care at all?
Let’s break down what agentic commerce is, why it hasn’t seen mainstream adoption, and why small- and medium-sized businesses should care about the future of this new payment technology.
Agentic commerce is an emerging technology that allows AI agents to shop and buy things for you. Instead of browsing sites, comparing prices, and typing in card numbers yourself, you tell an AI agent what you need, and it handles some (or all) of the process on your behalf.
That “some or all” distinction matters more than it might sound. It all comes down to how advanced the AI agent is and how much you trust it.
There are two distinct halves to agentic commerce, and they’re progressing at very different speeds.
The first is discovery, which covers everything that happens before a customer decides what to buy. This is where consumers rely on AI agents to compare products, read reviews, check prices across sites, and recommend an option based on what it knows about the shopper. Because the AI agent doesn’t make any final purchases during discovery, this phase has seen much wider adoption.
The second half of agentic commerce is the transaction itself. Here, the agent provides payment details and completes the purchase on the customer’s behalf. This is where adoption dramatically slows. Shoppers are comfortable letting an AI shopping assistant do product research, but far fewer will let one spend their money — especially without any oversight.
Ask yourself this: would you trust a chatbot to spend $300 for you, or would you rather review its suggestion and then enter the card number and confirm the final purchase yourself?
Accenture’s 2026 Consumer Pulse research found that only 9% of respondents would let an agent complete a purchase autonomously. Forrester agrees, calling consumer adoption of AI-driven checkout “lukewarm.” AI agents make mistakes, and until this technology becomes more reliable, shoppers will continue to feel hesitant about trusting agents with their money.
Structural challenges are also contributing to consumer hesitation. Competing protocols are still being fleshed out, and the industry hasn’t agreed on how to verify an AI agent’s identity or catch fraud before it happens.
Despite the limitations, the industry is moving in the right direction. For instance, Google launched its Universal Commerce Protocol in January 2026 with major retailers on board and public backing from Mastercard and Visa. It’s a sign of where things are heading, even if adoption is still early.
That said, Juniper Research has projected that agentic commerce transactions will grow in value from $8 billion today to $3.5 trillion by 2031. But that growth will depend on consumer trust, better fraud tools, and clearer rules around who’s responsible when something goes wrong.
Visibility matters more than checkout right now. The discovery half of agentic commerce is already live, so the real opportunity is being found and recommended by agents. While it might still seem futuristic, it’s important to invest in discovery now. If AI agents don’t know anything about your business, then when the time comes for them to start purchasing on your customers’ behalf, there’s a good chance they’ll buy from your competitors instead.
Here are a few steps you can take today to make sure your business starts showing up in the discovery phase:
Agentic commerce isn’t a failure. The transaction piece just proved harder than the hype suggested. The businesses that come out ahead will be the ones that make themselves visible while agents learn to shop. If you take the right steps today, you’ll be ready for the moment AI agents start making real purchases for your customers.
Flute keeps an eye on agentic commerce so growing businesses can stay focused on running theirs. Reach out to our team to see how we’re keeping payments simple, even while the industry changes.
