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Agentic Commerce Is Here, and What To Do About It

Shopping no longer starts with a search. It starts with an AI assistant. Whether it’s ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini, more shoppers are turning to generative AI assistants to start shopping, asking what to buy, comparing options, and narrowing choices before ever landing on a brand’s storefront. This shift marks the rise of agentic commerce: a new paradigm where AI agents initiate, guide, and sometimes complete the shopper journey on the shopper’s behalf. The adoption curve has been steep: By February 2025, Adobe reports that US retail traffic from generative AI has surged 12x in just seven months. Capgemini: 71% of shoppers want generative AI woven into their shopping experiences. This isn’t a trend. It’s a tipping point. Merchants must adapt to the new shopper journey. Static storefronts and passive chatbots won’t cut it. Merchants need a new storefront, one that is built for both humans and AI agents and one that engages, adapts, and converts from the first prompt. The New Shopper Journey: From “Browse and Hope” to “Shop for Me” For over twenty years, digital commerce followed a script: drive traffic from Google, convert 2–3% on-site, and accept that most shoppers bounce. Shoppers accepted this “browse and hope” model as the only way to shop online. The average shopper waded through search results, filters, and product grids. That traditional model is in decline. Now shoppers are turning to AI with a new mindset: “Shop for me”. They want guidance, not guesswork, and they’re using generative AI assistants. US retail traffic from generative AI soared 1,200% between July 2024 and February 2025. AI is the gateway for online shopping. The brands that win will be those who meet shoppers at this new entry point. Merchants Must Adapt We get this question a lot: “Does the merchant website go away?” The traditional storefront is already fading in relevance. It’s built for browsing, filtering, and scrolling along a rigid path. It assumes that the shopper does all their shopping on the merchant storefront, and that they will do all the work. The merchant storefront will not go away, but it must adapt to the new shopper journey. Humans still want to shop but will be used to AI assistants that do a lot of the work. Shoppers who start on ChatGPT or Perplexity will still also shop at the merchant storefront. The New AI Storefront The AI Storefront isn’t a plugin or a chatbot — it’s the next digital experience that combines personalized AI guidance, an adaptive user interface, and readiness for agent-to-agent commerce. It’s built to engage both human shoppers and AI assistants, helping them move from discovery to decision. In this new model, the merchant storefront has a bold new mandate: Be more merchant-specific, conversion-focused than general AI assistants. Represent the brand’s unique voice. Anticipate needs for both human and AI buyers. Proactively recommend and act to remove friction. Drive decision-making and conversion. It’s not another storefront redesign or AI-generated copy. The new storefront is an AI agent. Our Vision We believe the merchant’s AI Shopping Assistant will become the new AI Storefront. That’s why we built iAdvize’s AI Shopping Assistant to be part of the storefront experience. It is not behind the chat bubble. It already delivers up to 10x more engagement compared to traditional chatbots. It’s designed to convert, with immersive shopping experiences and an adaptive UI. What’s coming next? iAdvize’s AI Shopping Assistant will become a full AI Storefront. We are already collaborating with forward-thinking brands so they can: Offer the AI Shopping Assistant as an alternative to the traditional web storefront. ConnectAI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to their storefront to provide real-time context and maximize sell through in agent-to-agent shopping transactions (MCP server) Leverage their investments in their brand, customer insights, and e-commerce stack to power their new AI Storefront. Get your AI Storefront Readiness Briefing (30-min) Identify gaps — and opportunities — to stay ahead in the age of agentic commerce Contact us