AI agents are reshaping retail through "agentic commerce," where artificial-intelligence agents shop and make purchases autonomously, but retailers are responding differently. QVC and HSN welcome agents for marketing and product discovery, allowing purchases while sending catalogs to companies like Open AI and Google. Gap permits third-party agents to browse and check out on a case-by-case basis, balancing openness with consumer trust. Tapestry, parent of Coach and Kate Spade, lets agents browse but blocks purchases due to fraud and inventory hoarding concerns, though it is optimizing systems for future checkout capability. Kohl’s prevents agentic purchases entirely. Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse and agents from Open AI, Google, Anthropic, and Perplexity, citing data-privacy and security concerns. eBay bars agents without express permission, doubting AI’s ability to evaluate handmade and preowned goods. Meta’s Muse generates one-time card numbers and requires user permission before purchases. Despite current limitations, some retailers view agentic shopping as a "no-regret investment" for future consumer adoption.
Retailers with hesitations cite factors including the desire to control consumer data and concern over the customer experience. There is also no evidence yet that significant numbers of people are telling AI agents to buy things for them.
QVC and HSN treat agentic commerce as a channel for marketing and product discovery, allowing shopping agents to complete purchases while proactively sending their catalogs to companies like Open AI and Google for visibility.
Muse is designed to protect users by generating a one-time card number for each transaction and asking for a user’s permission before buying anything.
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing