One payment trend business owners may encounter in 2026, whether they want to or not, is agentic commerce. As AI evolves and becomes a bigger staple in everyday life, the way consumers want to make payments is consequently affected. In this article, we’re taking a look at agentic commerce and what businesses that accept online payments can expect.

What is agentic commerce?

Simply put, agentic commerce is the process by which an AI agent shops and potentially makes purchases on behalf of a customer. It’s also being called ‘a-commerce.’

Think of it like this; a customer using an AI tool gives a specific prompt for a flight to be purchased. Leaving from a specific airport, arriving at a specific time, within a specific price range, etc. The AI agent scours the internet for the best options, at a quicker speed than the user can, and presents the best options. Once the customer approves, the AI agent completes the purchase. This prevents the customer from having to do their own manual research or even from dealing with the checkout window.

When a user gives an AI agent a search query, it uses different protocols – such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) – to check product data in real time, accounting not just for price but for factors like return policies, shipping estimates, and more.

What does this mean for businesses?

For businesses that rely on online marketing to boost their sales, agentic commerce may throw a wrench in your usual strategy. AI tools aren’t going to be as swayed by typical marketing techniques, favoring “clean and structured data, fast responses and zero guesswork.”

Of course, not everyone is adopting a-commerce. Traditional digital marketing strategies still matter. Businesses who find that this trend is impacting them must be proactive in appealing to both types of shoppers; human and artificial intelligence.

Part of that includes building payment processing flows that can handle agent-initiated payments; something you may need to speak to your merchant services solution provider about. Likewise, while a-commerce agents can search regular websites and product listings, some companies are starting to build sites optimized for this purpose, including product catalogues and checkout flows meant to be agent-readable, rather than best for human use.

Who are the agents in agentic commerce?

The agents in question are “autonomous or semiautonomous software programmes that use artificial intelligence.” But who is operating these platforms? AI developers as well as payment processing companies both have their foot in the door of this new landscape.  Stripe, Open AI, Google, and Amazon are all among the companies working to deliver these platforms.

In conclusion…

As AI becomes a larger presence in our lives, businesses have to adjust strategies to account for new consumer behavior, which businesses should be aware of if they do online sales. If your platform doesn’t account for it, your competitors’ may.