Commerce (Nasdaq: CMRC), a data-centric provider of an open, AI-driven commerce ecosystem that enables businesses to unlock data, power intelligent discovery and deliver personalised experiences at scale, and PayPal today released new research revealing strong consumer interest in agentic shopping experiences alongside a clear demand for safeguards that keep consumers in control of purchases.
The study, conducted by Logica Research, surveyed 1,000 online shoppers across the United Kingdom, as well as a further 2,000 across the US and Australia, to better understand consumer attitudes toward agentic shopping tools — AI-powered assistants that can research products, compare options and make purchases on a shopper’s behalf. While 64% of UK consumers say they are interested in trying agentic shopping tools, many remain hesitant to give AI full autonomy over purchasing decisions.
The findings suggest that while consumers are increasingly comfortable with AI playing a role in commerce, widespread adoption of agentic shopping will depend on merchants, technology providers and payment companies building experiences that prioritise trust, transparency and security.
Agentic shopping as a gateway to savings and promotions
The research reveals that just 21% of UK shoppers are already using AI tools to help with their online shopping today. However, 70% want AI tools to help with their online shopping in the future. The leading reason is to make it easier to find the retailer with the best price (31%), followed by making it easier to find every promotion and discount (28%) and alerting them if a product has a better price elsewhere (23%).
Of consumers who don’t currently use AI for shopping, 62% say they plan to try AI-powered shopping tools within the next year.
Barriers to the agentic era
While agentic AI tools are being embraced at the discovery and comparison stages, there are concerns about AI purchasing a product without the shopper’s approval (43%), bank account security breaches (39%), purchasing the wrong product (32%) and privacy violations or personal data breaches (29%).
Consumers have high expectations for AI shopping tools, with 83% stating they would expect AI shopping tools to offer payment security that is as good as, or better than, existing methods.
When it comes to who consumers would trust to provide safe agentic shopping tools, trust was balanced between tech companies such Google and Apple, online payment providers such as PayPal, marketplaces such as Amazon and Etsy and traditional payment providers such as Visa and Mastercard.
Accuracy and transparency also arose as concerns UK shoppers have in relation to AI shopping tools. Among non-users of AI shopping tools, one in five question the accuracy of the information the tools provide. Meanwhile, over half (55%) of consumers state it is important that sponsored content and ads are clearly identifiable and 46% believe brands and retailers shouldn’t be able to pay to be given preference by AI shopping tools.
“The report reveals that UK shoppers see the potential for agentic commerce to help them compare products, identify cost savings, and find available discounts,” said Andrew Norman, GM EMEA at Commerce. “Retailers have a prime opportunity, provided they can build trust and transparency into the experience. This means creating shopping journeys that help consumers make informed purchasing decisions while retaining control over the checkout process and ensuring the recommendations they receive are accurate, transparent and reliable. Get those fundamentals right, and agentic commerce can provide significant value for retailers and consumers alike.”
