Growth in AI for Shopping Will Depend on Trust

The idea of using AI agents to shop online on the consumer’s behalf intrigues payments providers and consumers alike, but the full rollout of this technology is going to depend on how much buyers and processors can trust the technology, according to survey results released early Tuesday.

That need for trust also raises questions about security and transparency in these transactions, the research says, as about two-thirds of the U.S. respondents are looking for security “equal to or better than existing payment methods,” according to the results.

“As agentic commerce continues to evolve, secure payments and fraud protection will play a critical role in helping consumers and merchants embrace these new experiences with confidence,” says Michaela Weber, senior vice president of product management at Austin, Texas-based Commerce, which sponsored the study along with PayPal, in a statement.

The research canvassed 3,000 consumers in March and April, 1,000 of whom were in the United States, with another 1,000 each in the United Kingdom and Australia. Commerce is the parent company of BigCommerce, a technology provider for e-commerce businesses.

Agentic commerce, in which online consumers designate computer code to shop and pay on their behalf, intrigues businesses and consumers alike but has raised questions about the potential for unauthorized payments and other forms of fraud. Here, consumer standards are high. Among the U.S. respondents, some 82% indicated the technology should “offer payment security that is equal to or better than existing payment methods.”

Still, the U.S. consumers showed the most enthusiasm for agentic commerce, at two-thirds indicating they were interested in trying it, barely edging out the U.K. (64%) and Australia (63%).

But the research also indicates that tight consumer control will be key to widespread adoption, as consumers in all three markets “consistently” made clear their need to have visibility, and ultimately control, in deciding whether to make a purchase, according to the research.

The survey results emerge as consumers are gradually growing more aware and, in some cases, more comfortable with using AI agents in commerce. In the U.S. market, 39% of consumers were using AI last summer for product discovery, according to data from Salesforce, while research from Bain indicates as much as one-quarter of total U.S. e-commerce spending will be conducted via agents by 2030.