The Vision Is Real

Agentic commerce is envisioned as a system where AI agents automate every transaction aspect, including purchases with minimal human interaction. While this model promises significant transformation in how businesses and individuals interact, it remains largely theoretical.

Depending on the form of automation,” stated Christopher Miller, it could profoundly change interactions, necessitating new front doors, ecosystems, and marketing strategies.”

Despite numerous initiatives by financial giants like Visa and Mastercard, true agentic commerce is still far from reality. Current AI primarily assists in search processes and offers personalized recommendations but lacks full transaction capabilities.

For instance, users can purchase items directly through certain platforms within AI chat interfaces, yet these are only stepping stones toward the envisioned agentic experience.

An Iterative Move

Organizations looking to integrate agentic commerce should start by understanding where technology is currently in its development phase. AI’s role today mainly involves enhancing search and providing tailored options rather than executing full transactions autonomously.

Buying one item from a single place using a particular card shows how far we are,” Miller noted, but it provides valuable insights into capabilities and limitations.”

Identifying the potential where existing technology can intersect with agentic concepts is key. Companies should focus on practical applications that align with current infrastructure.

Boring, Straightforward, and Infrastructural

Agentic commerce’s hype often obscures its mundane nature. Automation in itself isn’t inherently interesting; it simply transforms tedious work into more efficient processes.

Implementing agentic AI must be seen as routine rather than novel,” Miller advised. Companies need to ensure that these technologies are deployed uniformly across teams and leaders.”

The Word Agentic

The term “agentic” is often overused to suggest seamless automation, but it primarily denotes external tasks being handled for users. While new infrastructures like payment identification might be exciting, the core logistics—shipping products—are unchanged.

Agentic commerce is essentially a customer-facing layer built on existing systems,” Miller concluded, though presenting it as futuristic makes it appear more complex than it truly is.”