Remember When Shopify Changed Everything?
Fifteen years ago, Shopify didn’t just make it easier to start an online store — it changed who could.
It democratized e-commerce. Suddenly, anyone with an idea and a laptop could sell to the world.
For a decade, that was the story of modern retail.
Then came the next frontier — automation, AI marketing, and no-code tools.
But those were all extensions of the same model: humans searching, clicking, and checking out on websites.
Agentic commerce flips that model entirely.
Now, AI does the searching. AI does the recommending. AI even facilitates the checkout.
And once again, a new generation of brands is about to win big.
What Exactly Is Agentic Commerce?
Agentic commerce is the next evolution of e-commerce — where AI agents like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini act as intelligent intermediaries between consumers and brands.
Instead of a customer typing into a search bar, they now ask:
“What’s the best moisturizer for sensitive skin under $50?”
And instead of showing a list of links, the AI agent reasons through structured product data and recommends specific products — right there in the conversation.
That’s agentic commerce:
Commerce powered by understanding, not just indexing.
How We Got Here
Search engines were built to help humans find web pages.
AI agents are being built to help humans find answers.
The moment OpenAI launched Instant Checkout inside ChatGPT, retail quietly changed forever.
For the first time, a customer could go from curiosity to purchase without ever leaving the conversation.
Behind that experience sits the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) — the data standard that makes your product understandable to AI.
If you’re not ACP-compliant, you’re invisible.
If you are, you’re discoverable in the fastest-growing channel on the internet.
Why This Is Bigger Than SEO or Social
For two decades, retail brands lived and died by traffic.
You ran ads, fought for organic rankings, and hoped your click-through rate held up.
But AI agents don’t “click.” They decide.
They analyze thousands of options, evaluate quality, understand intent, and recommend the best fit.
And customers increasingly trust those recommendations.
So instead of optimizing for keywords, you’re now optimizing for context.
Instead of chasing followers, you’re training .
