New research from Checkout.com, a leading global digital payments company, has found a growing gap between emerging consumer demand and the trust, control and infrastructure needed to support agentic commerce*. This is according to Checkout.com’s new report, Agentic Commerce 2026: The State of Consumer Demand and Merchant Readiness.
Nearly a quarter of UK consumers (23%) expect at least 10% of purchases to be AI-driven within a year, although Brits remain cautious compared to their global counterparts, with a third (33%) of global consumers expecting the same. While lower than the global figure, this still represents a significant segment of UK consumers. UK merchants see this shift coming, with 61% agreeing that consumers will adopt agent-led shopping faster than most merchants are prepared for, but also recognise that industry-wide infrastructure, standards and liability models are still evolving.
The result is not just an expectation gap, but a trust gap: consumers are interested in AI-led shopping, but many are not yet ready to delegate spending without clear safeguards. UK consumers have expressed some of the highest concerns around AI trust. The research has found 41% of consumers say they trust no organisation to operate an AI shopping agent compared to 27% globally, and 37% say they will never delegate purchases to AI – this is compared to 24% globally.
Consumers believe in the potential of AI to transform the shopping experience, with nearly two thirds (64%) saying they would be comfortable letting an AI shopping agent complete a purchase for them. But organisations in the UK must build trust through clear controls, permissioning and ease of cancellation. UK consumers say they would only delegate spending to an AI agent if strict controls were in place and would allow an AI shopping agent to spend £156 per purchase without additional approvals.
For UK consumers, top non-negotiables for feeling confident with agent-led shopping are easy cancellation (31%), ability to revoke permission instantly (31%) and requirement to show options before buying (27%). Merchants also recognise the need for transparency and control, with 69% saying giving customers the real-time ability to revoke permissions will be critical to consumer adoption of agentic commerce programmes.
Agentic commerce for consumers is being driven by convenience as they want to automate routine tasks to get time back, and want a more valuable shopping experience. Nearly a quarter (22%) say saving time is the top motivator for them to use an AI shopping agent, and 17% say they want to use AI to ensure they never miss a better deal.
The findings suggest that agentic commerce will scale unevenly, starting with low-risk, repeatable categories before expanding further. Consumers are most willing to delegate shopping for groceries (45%) and household supplies (31%), seeing these as lower-risk, repeatable purchases. However, high-consideration purchases such as financial services remain least delegable at 13%, which is at odds with merchants who expect agentic commerce to take hold first in complex decisions such as financial products.
Rory O’Neill, CMO at Checkout.com, said, “Agentic commerce is quickly moving from concept to reality. Consumers are beginning to experiment with AI agents for everyday purchases, and across the industry we’re seeing rapid collaboration around the protocols and standards that will support this next phase of ecommerce. But while adoption is ramping up, the infrastructure behind it is still developing. Consumers need confidence that AI agents will operate within clear controls around security, refunds, permissions and spend limits. Until those foundations are in place, trust will remain one of the biggest barriers to adoption.”
Agentic commerce could also reshape brand loyalty. Just under half (46%) of UK consumers would let an AI shopping agent switch brands if it found a better value option. AI shopping is changing discovery, comparison and brand choice, and if organisations can solve trust, accountability and control, AI has the potential to reimagine the digital commerce market. Today, according to merchants across the UK, only 3% of transactions involve AI agents, but 89% of merchants overall are actively preparing for agentic commerce, indicating that merchant preparation is already underway, even as standards and trust models continue to mature.
