Retail is entering the age of agents. Increasingly, consumers are using artificial intelligence to discover products, compare options, and complete purchases on their behalf, across any platform where a conversation can take place: from search engines to chat interfaces. For retailers, the question is no longer whether to prepare for this scenario, but how to be present wherever their customers interact without losing control over the brand, the customer, and the payment process.

Consumers have already taken this step. According to Shopify's 2025 Holiday Retail report, more than 70% of Spanish consumers plan to use AI at some stage of the buying process, and 34% say they will use it to find deals. This adoption is already having a real impact: since January 2025, traffic from AI tools to stores has increased ninefold, and orders generated from AI searches have increased fourteenfold.

At the same time, retailers recognize the potential of this technology. 81% of retailers in Spain expect AI to improve the shopping experience. However, the challenge lies not only in incorporating new tools, but also in doing so on a solid technological foundation. AI only generates value when it's supported by connected, reliable, and actionable data.

Today, AI agents already allow for the automation of time-consuming tasks, from content creation to customer segmentation and performance optimization, freeing up teams to focus on innovation and customer service. At the same time, consumers perceive clear benefits, such as a more personalized experience and a greater ability to find deals. But trust remains key: most shoppers still value human connection and control over the experience.

Three Keys to Thrive in the Age of AI-Powered Commerce

For AI to become a real competitive advantage, businesses must adopt three fundamental strategies.

1- Embrace unified commerce. AI doesn't work in isolation. The proliferation of disconnected tools adds complexity instead of efficiency. True value emerges when AI is integrated into a unified commerce stack that connects online and offline channels, centralizes data, and acts as a single source of truth for the customer. Without consistent data, AI cannot deliver consistent results.

2- Moving from execution to coordination. The next step in AI adoption is to move beyond task automation and toward coordination. In declarative commerce, the merchant defines the intent—for example, improving margin without impacting conversion—and AI orchestrates pricing, merchandising, and channels to achieve that goal. This is the shift from automation to results-oriented intelligence.

3- Building commerce on trust. In an era defined by artificial intelligence and autonomous agents, identity and verification become the foundation of the entire commerce ecosystem. It is essential to integrate security and data control at every level of the technology, with verifiable identities and authorized actions by default. Security is shared: platforms, merchants, partners, and developers must work together, while platforms provide the necessary tools for businesses to grow confidently in an AI-driven environment.

This shift is driving the development of new commerce infrastructures. One example is the Universal Commerce Protocol, developed by Shopify in partnership with Google, which allows AI agents to interact directly with any online store. This facilitates sales in conversational environments like ChatGPT, where discovery, conversation, and conversion occur in a single flow, maintaining brand consistency.

The future of commerce is agent-driven.

Merchants that integrate AI as a structural part of their technology strategy, rather than as an add-on, will be better positioned to create smarter experiences, stronger relationships, and more resilient businesses in an agent-driven world.