For more than two decades, the online checkout has been the heartbeat of eCommerce. The ‘buy now’ prompt buttons, payment forms and confirmation pages are an ordinary sight for many shoppers. But what happens when the shopper is no longer human?
Welcome to the age of agentic commerce, where AI agents can browse, compare, negotiate and complete purchases on behalf of consumers and businesses. This isn’t a theoretical concept, but a reality.
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Recent research shows 27% of UK consumers have already used AI tools in product discovery, rising to 47% among Millennial shoppers and 46% among Gen Z shoppers. While agentic checkout flows without a human-in-the-loop are currently rare, some consumer use cases such as booking travel are gaining traction.
In this new agentic commerce world, checkout moves into an ongoing flow of agent-to-agent interactions. To prepare for the checkout revolution, brands need to ensure their experiences are not only optimised for customers, but also for agents.
Designing for algorithms, not just eyeballs
As AI agents increasingly decide what to buy on behalf of customers, the checkout procedure has become just as important as product discovery. For most brands, this starts with the basics; ensuring pricing, store catalogues and key data can be understood by AI systems through structured data and well-documented APIs.
AI agents rely on rich and organised product data to compare final costs, delivery timelines and return policies before completing a final purchase. It also provides and emphasises intelligent availability checks, currency, shipping calculations and payment eligibility at checkout.
A brand’s catalogue also needs to provide accuracy, such as inventory availability and correct pricing. Once these components are all in place, agents will soon crawl checkout pages the way search engines crawl web pages, rewarding clarity, consistency and reliability.
In an agentic world, loyalty becomes algorithmic at checkout, rather than emotional. AI assistants will favour brands with properly organised data and predictable pricing. If checkout processes aren’t strong and reliable, agents can’t transact efficiently.
Translating checkout into infrastructure
Most retailers are still focused on improving mobile conversion rates, instead of preparing for a future where customer checkout fades into the background entirely. By doing so, they are risking their product data and payment infrastructure not being ready for intelligent agents.
In the first instance, brands need to be checkout-ready, which involves creating a smooth-running infrastructure. Transactions must be flexible and easy for machines to complete. Instead of relying on a customer to tap a button or confirm a payment, systems need to support purchasing while still valuing customer intent and control.
This transition also changes how identity and trust perform at checkout. Traditionally, a purchase is tied to a shopper clicking a button or authenticating card details. In an agent-driven checkout, brands must recognise the difference between their usual human customer and the AI agent acting on their behalf. Identifying this difference requires clearer records of how and why a purchase happened, all without adding friction for the customer.
The brands that succeed will be those that make checkout reliable and agent-friendly, while keeping customers firmly up to speed and in control.
Trust is the success differentiator
With AI agents beginning to handle purchases, brands that make checkout clear, fast and reliable get chosen more often. Agents favour retailers with transparent pricing, predictable outcomes and those that prioritise operational consistency.
Importantly, human storytelling and brand identity remain important, but at checkout, brands must be supported by machine-readable signals that AI can act on, including a verified inventory and supply-chain transparency. In this agentic world, brands are building trust not just with customers, but with the systems enacting transactions on their behalf.
The next era of checkout
Agentic checkout is more than a trend; it’s a watershed moment in how eCommerce is developing. As AI agents become more capable and consumers grow more comfortable with automation and AI, retailers that embrace this change will gain a competitive edge.
The true future of checkout isn’t about removing a function; it’s about redefining where trust lives in the transaction. As AI begins to purchase on our behalf, the ‘buy now’ button gives way to a trust layer that blends identity, data permission, and payment security. The brands that succeed will not only sell to humans more efficiently but also design systems that humans and machines are both accustomed to.
Michaela Weber, SVP & GM of Payments, Commerce
