By Guardian staff reporter
Publication Date: 2026-03-13 09:38:00
Remember when the only choice if you wanted to buy something was to leave the house and go to a store? Then came online shopping and what you wanted could be ordered on your computer, smartphone or tablet and quickly delivered to your door.
Now the world of retail is poised for an even more fundamental shift – with AI doing the shopping for us.
This is the future idea behind a new technology called “Agentic Commerce”. It learns our likes, dislikes, sizes and favorite colors and then handles all phases of the purchasing process, from recommending an item to payment and shipping.
“I would say this is one of the biggest retail changes we will see,” says Simon Forbes, division president for the UK and Ireland at Mastercard. “It fundamentally changes who initiates the purchase and how decisions are made.”
He believes Agentic Commerce will soon be a game-changer for buyers and retailers alike, handling all types of…
