Agentic commerce: when AI starts shopping for you
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
This morning my sister shared a piece of news with me: OpenAI has launched agentic commerce in North America. Inside ChatGPT, users can buy Etsy products directly, without jumping to any website. Checkout happens right in the chat.
It sounds like a small feature, but it signals a structural change in the whole e-commerce landscape.
Until now, the value of platforms like Shopee, Amazon and Lazada lay in being the "entry point". When consumers want to buy something, the first step is usually search. So platforms control the traffic, match sellers with users, and make money from ads and commission.
But once people get used to simply telling an AI, "find me a suitable dress", and the AI picks, orders and pays on its own, the search-and-ads step may be skipped entirely. The entry point for traffic is no longer the search box. It's the conversation.
When the entry point is rebuilt, where are the opportunities?
Supply chain
However the entry point changes, what finally decides whether a transaction goes through smoothly is still who can provide stable, fast, cheap goods. AI can place the order for the user, but it can't replace production, inventory and logistics. That means whoever controls the supply chain is still the most confident player in the system.
The rise of AI agents
In future, brands and KOLs can have their own digital twins, serving fans long-term as AI personas. These twins won't just push content. They'll recommend, answer questions, and even place orders for fans. Brand influence and personal influence will be "agent-ised" in the digital world, running 24 hours a day.
Trust between people
However far technology goes, behind every purchase is still trust in people. Recommendation algorithms can be optimised endlessly, but what really makes users comfortable paying is often that they trust a brand, a host, or even a digital human. AI agents can be copied by the thousands in future, but the scarce resource is "who is worth trusting".
No single platform will take it all
Future e-commerce won't be one platform taking everything. It will move towards:
- Verticalisation (each field has its own dedicated digital agent)
- Fragmentation (users complete transactions across different AI environments)
- Specialisation (supply chains and sellers connect more deeply with AI)
This brings new challenges. Small sellers who rely only on platform traffic, for example, will become more and more passive. But it also brings new opportunities: whoever makes their supply chain "plug and play", easiest for AI agents to call on, will be the biggest winner in the new landscape.
The future of e-commerce no longer depends on whose app has the most downloads.