{"id":2146,"date":"2026-07-01T10:39:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vandelay.es\/comercio-agentico-marcas-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:40:11","slug":"agent-based-retail-brands-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vandelay.es\/en\/agent-based-retail-brands-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Agent-based commerce: how to prepare your brand for AI to make purchases on behalf of your customers by 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, the purchasing funnel always ended in the same place: a person with their mouse hovering over the \u00abPay\u00bb button. The agency trade<\/strong> This is turning that scenario on its head. Now, the person browsing the catalogue, comparing prices and, in some cases, completing the purchase may well be an artificial intelligence agent acting on the user\u2019s behalf. And this isn\u2019t a laboratory experiment: by 2026, there will already be platforms, protocols and funding behind it. At Vandelay, we\u2019ve been seeing this coming for months, so we\u2019re going to explain it clearly and transparently, with our sources laid out on the table.<\/p>\n

What exactly is agency-based trading?<\/h2>\n

Agency trade (in English, agentic commerce<\/em>) is a model of buying and selling in which AI agents research, evaluate options, negotiate and complete purchases on behalf of consumers or businesses, sometimes without direct human intervention. This is how IBM defines the term, and it aligns with McKinsey\u2019s interpretation, which describes it as a shift that transforms the purchasing process \u2014 hitherto a series of discrete steps: searching, browsing, comparing and buying \u2014 into a continuous flow guided by the user\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n

The difference compared to a traditional search engine or price comparison site is subtle but huge: the agent doesn\u2019t simply provide you with ten links to choose from, but instead decides (or shortlists) for you based on your preferences. For a brand, this means that the \u00abcustomer\u00bb they need to convince is no longer just a person, but also a system that reads, interprets and recommends products.<\/p>\n

\"Agent-based
Agent-based commerce involves AI agents that research and make purchases on behalf of the user.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why 2026 is the year it ceased to be just a theory<\/h2>\n

The most talked-about case is also the most instructive. OpenAI launched its feature Instant Checkout<\/em> on ChatGPT in September 2025, with the aim of allowing users to make purchases without leaving the conversation. In March 2026, as reported by CNBC, OpenAI shifted its strategy and stopped pushing for direct purchases within ChatGPT to focus instead on product discovery and driving qualified traffic to retailers. The reason was not a lack of interest, but the difficulty of resolving some far from trivial issues: taxation, fraud prevention and real-time inventory synchronisation on a large scale.<\/p>\n

Just because the pioneer has taken a step back does not mean the movement has come to a standstill; it means it is getting organised. Other players \u2014 Perplexity, Microsoft with Copilot and Google \u2014 have launched or announced their own AI-assisted shopping experiences and protocols, relying on payment gateways such as PayPal or Stripe and e-commerce platforms such as Shopify. The industry conversation no longer centres on \u00abwhether\u00bb retailers will adopt these solutions, but on \u00abhow\u00bb they can be standardised so that they can do so with confidence.<\/p>\n

The figures that explain all this interest<\/h2>\n

If so many companies are taking action at the same time, it is because the projections are hard to ignore. It is best to treat them for what they are \u2014 estimates, not certainties \u2014 but the order of magnitude speaks for itself:<\/p>\n