In ecommerce, platforms pushing artificial intelligence features in 2025 are not just pitching recommendation engines to retailers — they’re offering up agentic AI and agentic commerce solutions as well.
In a sea of existing solutions — including machine learning, AI-powered search and generative AI — agentic AI has already been added to the mix from the biggest names in tech. Those names include Google and Meta. It is also part of a new wave of ecommerce-targeted offerings. On that front, Amazon and OpenAI are trying to lure in consumers via subscriptions. Elsewhere, agent tools can be seen coming from startups and integrations for Shopify and Adobe’s Magento platform.
In 2024, Salesforce made its Agentforce features a major focus of its Dreamforce event in San Francisco, touting its early user Saks, which would leverage Agentforce to improve personalization. Then in January, OpenAI unveiled its Operator agent, naming eBay, Etsy and Instacart as early users, detailing how shoppers could use the agent. So what is agentic commerce meant to do?
What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce refers to use cases in ecommerce for agentic AI. These AI agents are layers of software built on top of large language models (LLMs), designed not only to interact with humans through text-based, chatbot-style interfaces, but also to make decisions and execute actions autonomously.
In ecommerce, that can mean assisting shoppers as they learn, discover and make purchases. In other cases, it can mean assisting merchants with operations on the back ends of their ecommerce websites.
Shoppers have already adapted to using AI chatbots. Salesforce saw AI boost revenues for retailers during the 2024 holiday shopping season. Meanwhile, new survey results from Adobe Analytics in March found AI use among shoppers to be associated with higher rates of engagement.
“Online shoppers are seeing benefits in using an AI-powered chat interface, as it shortens the time it takes for them to receive information that is personalized to their needs,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “In Adobe’s survey, we found that of those who have used AI for shopping, 92% said it enhanced their experience, with 87% saying that they are more likely to use AI for larger or more complex purchases.”
Online retailers are investing accordingly. In February, Digital Commerce 360 surveyed online retailers about their ecommerce technology plans for 2025, and artificial intelligence was a top priority. In the results, which will be published in the upcoming 2025 Ecommerce Platforms Report, only 11.11% of those surveyed had no plans to invest in AI in the year.
Adobe clearly sees an opportunity, having launched its own agentic AI solution the same week that its own survey results were published. Dubbed the Adobe Experience Platform Agent Orchestrator, the company designed the offering to build, manage and orchestrate AI agents from both Adobe and third-party ecosystems for businesses. The launch followed Adobe’s survey findings, which Pandya argued make the case for chatbots’ growing presence.
“This is reshaping how businesses think about customer engagement, especially with the arrival of AI agents that will be able to handle more complex tasks and make highly tailored recommendations,” Pandya stated.
Examples of agentic ecommerce
Meanwhile, retailers are testing the waters with agentic commerce. When OpenAI unveiled its Operator agent in January, the company said its agent would be able to navigate a web browser on its own. Tasks included searching, typing and clicking on options to make orders. A user might ask Operator to order groceries, choose a gift or book tickets through a business using the features.
For now, only OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro subscribers, who already pay $200 a month, can access Operator’s features. However, OpenAI plans to expand access as it improves and refines the tool.
“We still have a lot of work to do to make it better, but we really want to put it in people’s hands,” said Sam Altman, the CEO at OpenAI, during a demo of Operator. “We’ll also have more agents to launch in the coming weeks and months.”
One of the most high-profile use cases of agentic commerce, however, may be in Amazon’s Alexa+ features. Available with its own subscription price of $19.99 per month, Alexa+ will also be free for Amazon Prime subscribers. Those subscribers will be able to use Alexa+ to initiate transactions on a user’s behalf through Amazon.com, as well as Whole Foods, Ticketmaster and elsewhere.
Now, the pressure will be on these chatbot makers to live up to their price points.
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