- According to a survey by Checkout.com, 33% of consumers expect at least 10% of their shopping to be AI-driven within the next year, but there remains a significant gap between consumer vision and industry-wide readiness.
- Merchants in the UK and US are already sensing this pace: 72% of merchants in both countries believe consumers will embrace AI agent shopping faster than most merchants can prepare.
- Trust remains the biggest barrier to AI adoption: 27% of consumers say they do not trust any institution to operate an AI shopping agent, and 24% explicitly state they will never delegate shopping decisions to AI.
LONDONJune 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — According to the latest report, “2026 AI Agent Commerce Industry Report: Consumer Demand and Merchant Readiness,” released today by Checkout.com, a global leading payment company, consumer demand for AI agent commerce* is accelerating, but the trust mechanisms, control, and infrastructure needed to support this demand are lagging behind.
One-third (33%) of consumers expect at least 10% of their shopping to be AI-driven within the next year; merchants are already aware of this demand—nearly three-quarters (72%) of merchants in the UK and US agree that consumers will embrace AI agents faster than most merchants can prepare. Core areas such as product discovery, payment checkout, and identity verification will all be reshaped by AI, while industry-wide protocol standards and liability models continue to evolve.
Behind this lies not just an “expectation gap,” but a “trust gap”: consumers are highly interested in AI-led shopping, but without clear safeguards, most are unwilling to hand over purchasing decisions. The survey found that a quarter (24%) of consumers say they will never delegate shopping to AI, and 27% do not trust any institution to operate an AI shopping agent. Consumers do not question AI’s potential to transform the shopping experience; what they want is clear control settings, permission management, and easy cancellation mechanisms—these are the three pillars for businesses to build trust.
Consumers’ response is clear: they are only willing to authorize AI agents to make purchases if autonomous control mechanisms are in place. Across the six markets surveyed, consumers are willing to authorize AI shopping agents to autonomously place orders without manual approval for an average single transaction limit of £177; merchants in the UK and US estimate this figure at £200—merchants think consumers would allow higher limits, but in reality, consumers want tighter boundaries than merchants expect. In consumers’ eyes, there are three “non-negotiables” for confidence in AI agent shopping: spending limits (30%), the right to immediate revocation (29%), and easy cancellation (28%). Merchants also recognize the need for transparency and control—75% of merchants believe that giving consumers the ability to revoke transaction authorization in real-time will be key to consumer adoption of AI agent commerce solutions.
The core driver for consumers to embrace AI agent commerce is “convenience”: they want to automate routine tasks, reclaim their time, and gain a more valuable shopping experience. A quarter (25%) of consumers say saving time is their primary motivation for using AI shopping agents; 20% hope to use AI to get better deals.
The survey results also show that the scaling of AI agent commerce will be uneven—it will first take root in low-risk, repeatable categories before expanding outward. Consumers are most willing to delegate groceries (41%) and household essentials (31%) to AI—these are seen as low-risk, repeatable purchasing decisions. For high-stakes purchases requiring careful consideration, such as financial services, the willingness to authorize AI is only 15%, far lower than other categories. This contrasts with merchant expectations—based on merchant forecasts, complex decision-making transactions like financial products would be among the first areas for AI agent commerce to land.
Rory O’Neill, Chief Marketing Officer at Checkout.com, said: “AI agent commerce is rapidly moving from concept to reality. Consumers are already experimenting with AI agents in their daily shopping, and the industry is closely collaborating on the protocols and standards needed for the next phase of e-commerce. But as adoption accelerates, the underlying infrastructure is still being built. Consumers need to be confident that AI agents will operate within clear control mechanisms for security, refunds, permissions, and spending limits. Until these foundations are in place, trust will remain one of the biggest barriers to the widespread adoption of AI agent commerce.”
AI agent commerce could also reshape brand loyalty. More than half (57%) of consumers say they would allow AI agents to switch brands if they find a more cost-effective option. AI shopping is rewriting the logic of product discovery, price comparison across the web, and brand selection; if businesses can solve the three major challenges of trust, accountability, and control, AI has the potential to reshape the entire digital commerce market. According to data from merchants in the UK and US, currently only 3% of transactions involve AI agents; however, overall, 89% of merchants are already actively preparing for AI agent commerce—meaning that even as industry standards and trust models continue to mature, merchant preparations are already quietly underway.
Editor’s Note
*AI Agent Commerce: Refers to an e-commerce model where AI agents, authorized by consumers, search the web, compare products, and complete purchases on their behalf.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted by Censuswide, covering 12,005 consumers aged 18+ across six markets (UK, US, Brazil, China, France, UAE), and 400 payment decision-makers aged 25+ working full-time at consumer-facing merchants (e-commerce/retail, digital goods and services, ticketing and travel, groceries and food delivery) in the UK and US. Consumer data was collected from March 2–9, 2026; merchant data was collected from February 25–March 2, 2026.
Censuswide strictly adheres to and employs members of the Market Research Society (MRS), follows the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles, and is a member of the British Polling Council.