Shopping assistants powered by AI have been around for a while: recommendation widgets, chatbots that answer product questions, maybe a “compare for me” button. What’s new in 2025 is the shift from isolated features to full agentic systems that can take on multi-step shopping tasks end to end. Instead of helping you shop, they increasingly shop with you — and sometimes for you.
What “agentic commerce” actually means
Agentic commerce is the use of AI agents that can plan, decide, and act across a shopping journey. Rather than responding to a single prompt, an agent can handle a sequence:
- understand what you want and why
- search across options
- compare tradeoffs like price, quality, delivery, and brand
- refine choices based on follow-up questions
- move toward checkout
The key difference is autonomy. These assistants aren’t just a UI layer on top of a catalog. They’re decision systems that navigate shopping the way a human would — but faster, at scale, and with access to more data.
Why now: the ingredients finally lined up
This change is happening because several pieces matured at once.
First, large language models got better at reasoning through messy, real-world requests. “I need a laptop for remote work that won’t overheat, under this budget, preferably light, and available this week” is the kind of task they can now interpret reliably.
Second, retailers and platforms have opened more structured data and APIs. Agents can pull product info, stock status, user reviews, and shipping details in a consistent way.
Third, consumers have gotten used to conversational interfaces. People already ask TikTok what to buy, search on Instagram, and browse through voice assistants. Agentic shopping fits into that behavior naturally.
Where these agents are showing up
Agentic commerce is appearing in three main places.
In big marketplaces, assistants are becoming part of the core product. Amazon has been testing AI shopping helpers that summarize reviews and guide choices. Shopify has added assistant features for merchants and storefronts, aiming to turn stores into conversational shopping spaces.
In search and discovery platforms, the agent is the interface. Google’s shopping experience now includes AI summaries and guided comparisons for products. Perplexity has leaned into shopping answers that bundle options with reasoning. These tools treat commerce as an extension of search rather than a separate destination.
In social and brand ecosystems, assistants are layered into experiences people already use. Meta has been weaving AI helpers into Instagram and WhatsApp for discovery and product queries. TikTok Shop continues to push algorithmic discovery that increasingly resembles agent-led shopping paths. Even if these aren’t fully autonomous yet, they’re moving in that direction.
How the shopping journey changes
For users, the most visible shift is effort. The “research tax” of shopping — scanning reviews, opening ten tabs, checking delivery, comparing specs — gets compressed into a dialogue.
Instead of browsing first and deciding later, people may decide earlier because the agent structures the options. That can make shopping feel faster and less overwhelming, especially for complex buys like electronics, appliances, travel, or insurance-like products.
At the same time, it changes what people trust. If an agent makes the shortlist, the shortlist matters. The ranking logic becomes as important as the product list itself.
The ecosystem race underneath
Agentic commerce isn’t just about better shopping UX. It’s becoming an ecosystem competition.
Platforms want agents that live across retailers, not inside one store. Retailers want agents that keep users in their own worlds. Payment providers, delivery services, and ad networks want to be the default pipes agents rely on.
That’s why you’re seeing assistant layers bundled with loyalty programs, checkout tools, and creator storefronts. Whoever owns the agent relationship may end up owning the commerce relationship.
The risks people are already debating
Agentic shopping raises practical concerns.
One is bias. Agents decide what to show first, what to summarize, and what to skip. If ranking is shaped by ads, partnerships, or limited data, people may get a narrower view than they realize.
Another is transparency. A human friend can tell you why they recommend something. An agent needs to explain its reasoning clearly, or users won’t know whether they’re getting a helpful assistant or a clever sales funnel.
There’s also the question of control. Some users will love “just buy the best option.” Others will want the agent to stay in advisory mode. The balance between autonomy and user choice will matter a lot.
What to expect next
Agentic commerce is still early, but the direction is clear. Shopping assistants are moving from add-ons to infrastructure. Over the next year, expect more agents that:
- work across multiple stores, not one
- remember preferences over time
- support voice and multimodal input
- integrate directly with checkout and delivery
- become part of messaging and social apps
In other words, the future isn’t a “shopping assistant feature.” It’s a shopping layer that sits on top of the internet — and quietly rewrites how people discover, compare, and buy almost everything.