Agentic AI in retail and ecommerce is projected to be worth $60.43 billion in 2026, growing at 29.29% CAGR to reach $218.37 billion by 2031 (Mordor Intelligence, 2026). Every major tech company launched agentic commerce features between late 2025 and early 2026: Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts, Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol, ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout, Amazon’s Rufus upgrades, and Microsoft’s Copilot Checkout.
For Shopify merchants, the question isn’t whether to participate. It’s which platforms matter for your store, what they cost, and what you need to do today.
This guide compares every major agentic commerce platform side by side, explains the protocols connecting them, and provides specific recommendations based on your store’s size and needs.
What Makes a Platform “Agentic”?
Before diving into comparisons, let’s clarify what agentic commerce actually means. A platform qualifies as “agentic” when AI agents can independently:
- Discover your products through conversation (not just search results)
- Recommend products based on context, preferences, and real-time data
- Complete purchases inside the AI interface without redirecting to your website
- Handle post-purchase tasks like tracking, returns, and follow-ups
Traditional ecommerce puts the shopper in control of every step. Agentic commerce puts AI agents in the middle, handling discovery through purchase on the shopper’s behalf. For a deeper dive into this shift, read our agentic commerce guide.
The distinction matters because not every “AI-powered” platform is truly agentic. Some offer AI-assisted search (still requires the shopper to navigate a website). Others offer full agentic checkout (the AI handles everything within the conversation). The platforms below fall at different points on this spectrum.
Traffic from AI platforms to U. S. ecommerce sites surged 4,700% year-over-year in mid-2025 (MetaRouter, 2025). During Cyber Week 2025, roughly 1 in 5 orders involved an AI agent (Industry data, 2025). This isn’t a future trend. It’s a current revenue channel.
The Protocol Layer: How Everything Connects
Before comparing platforms, you need to understand the protocols that connect them. Think of protocols as the shared language that lets AI agents talk to your store.
| Protocol | Created By | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) | Google + industry coalition | Open standard for the full shopping journey: discovery, purchase, and post-purchase across any AI agent |
| ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) | OpenAI + Stripe | Powers checkout within ChatGPT via Stripe payment infrastructure |
| MCP (Model Context Protocol) | Anthropic | Connects AI models to external data sources and tools (used by Shopify for agent extensions) |
| A2A (Agent-to-Agent Protocol) | Enables AI agents to communicate and collaborate with each other |
For merchants, the practical takeaway is simple: UCP is the most important protocol because it’s open-source, has the broadest industry backing (20+ partners including Shopify, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe), and works across all major AI platforms. If you understand how UCP works, you understand how your products reach AI shoppers.
Shopify merchants benefit from all of these protocols without needing to implement them directly. Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts handle the protocol layer so you can focus on product data and store operations.
Platform-by-Platform Breakdown
1. Shopify (Sidekick + Agentic Storefronts)
What it offers: Native AI features (Sidekick, Magic) plus Agentic Storefronts that syndicate your products to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot with a single admin toggle per platform.
Pricing: All AI features included free with every plan. Basic starts at $39/month. No per-conversation charges.
Agentic commerce approach: Shopify treats agentic commerce as a distribution channel. Enable Agentic Storefronts, and your product catalog becomes discoverable and purchasable inside AI conversations across multiple platforms simultaneously.
Over 1 million Shopify merchants are gaining agentic storefront access (Shopify, 2026). Shopify co-created UCP with Google, making it a founding partner of the most important open commerce protocol.
Best for: SMBs wanting zero-friction entry into agentic commerce. For a full breakdown of Shopify’s AI capabilities, see our guide to AI tools for Shopify.
2. Google (UCP + AI Mode Shopping)
What it offers: The Universal Commerce Protocol (open-source standard) plus AI Mode in Google Search where shoppers discover and purchase products through conversation.
Pricing: UCP is a free, open protocol. Merchants pay nothing for implementation. Standard Google Ads/Shopping costs apply for paid visibility in AI Mode.
Agentic commerce approach: Google isn’t selling a platform. It’s building the infrastructure. UCP standardizes how any AI agent connects to any merchant for the full shopping journey. Google’s AI Mode surfaces products conversationally, and ads are now appearing in AI Mode as well.
Partners include Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart, plus payment partners like Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Adyen, and American Express.
Best for: All merchants who want broad AI discoverability without platform lock-in.
3. Amazon (Rufus)
What it offers: Rufus is Amazon’s generative AI shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s entire catalog, customer reviews, Q&As, and web data. Features include Help Me Decide (AI-guided purchase decisions), Price Tracker (30/90-day price history), and Auto-Buy (automatic purchase when target price is hit).
Pricing: Free for shoppers. Sellers pay standard Amazon fees. No additional AI-specific charges.
Agentic commerce approach: Rufus is the most mature agentic shopping experience at scale. Over 300 million customers used Rufus in 2025, and users are 60% more likely to complete a purchase (Amazon / Fortune, 2025). Rufus is projected to generate $10 billion+ in incremental annual sales.
Limitation: Rufus is a walled garden. It only works within Amazon’s ecosystem. If you sell on Amazon, optimize for Rufus. But it does nothing for your DTC store.
Best for: Amazon sellers wanting to maximize in-marketplace conversions.
4. ChatGPT / OpenAI (Instant Checkout)
What it offers: Shopping Research for conversational product discovery plus Instant Checkout powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) and Stripe. Shoppers can discover, compare, and buy products without leaving the chat.
Pricing: Free for shoppers on all ChatGPT tiers. Merchants connect via Shopify Agentic Storefronts or Stripe’s ACS at no cost.
Agentic commerce approach: ChatGPT is the largest AI assistant globally with 800 million weekly active users. Product recommendations are unbiased and unsponsored (for now). Etsy is live on Instant Checkout. Shopify integration is rolling out to 1 million+ merchants.
Best for: Shopify/Etsy merchants wanting early mover advantage in conversational commerce.
5. Perplexity (Buy with Pro)
What it offers: AI-powered product search with cited sources, Buy with Pro one-click checkout (PayPal/Venmo), free shipping on all Buy with Pro orders, and Snap to Shop visual search.
Pricing: Product search is free. Buy with Pro checkout requires Pro subscription ($20/month for shoppers). Merchants join the free Merchant Program.
Agentic commerce approach: Perplexity targets research-heavy shoppers with high purchase intent. Over 5,000 merchants are accessible through the PayPal checkout partnership (PayPal, 2025). Every recommendation comes with cited sources, building trust for considered purchases.
Best for: Merchants selling considered-purchase products to research-oriented buyers.
6. Microsoft Copilot (Checkout + Brand Agents)
What it offers: Copilot Checkout for in-conversation purchases, plus Brand Agents that let merchants bring their authentic brand voice into AI interactions. Catalog Enrichment Agent automates product data management.
Pricing: Free for Copilot users. Brand Agents available through Shopify integration at no separate fee.
Agentic commerce approach: Copilot’s unique differentiator is Brand Agents. Unlike ChatGPT and Perplexity where the AI controls the product presentation, Brand Agents let merchants customize how their products are described and recommended. Shopping journeys on Copilot are 33% shorter with a 53% increase in purchases within 30 minutes. Shopping intent journeys are 194% more likely to result in a purchase (Microsoft Advertising, 2026).
Best for: Merchants wanting brand-customized AI experiences, especially those in the Microsoft ecosystem.
7. Salesforce (Agentforce Commerce)
What it offers: Enterprise AI commerce platform with Merchandiser Agent, Personal Shopper Agent, and Buyer Agent (B2B). Deep CRM integration across sales, service, marketing, and commerce.
Pricing: Starts at $125/user/month for add-ons, up to $650/user/month for premium editions. Plus $2/conversation or $500/100K Flex Credits. Plus Commerce Cloud subscription costs.
Agentic commerce approach: Agentforce Commerce is the most expensive option by far, but it’s also the most capable for enterprise multi-channel orchestration. The B2B Buyer Agent has no competitor equivalent. For a detailed comparison with Shopify’s AI, see our Sidekick vs Commerce GPT analysis.
Best for: Enterprise retailers with existing Salesforce ecosystem and B2B commerce needs.
Head-to-Head Comparison
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Shopify | Google UCP | Amazon Rufus | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Copilot | Salesforce |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Discovery AI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| In-Agent Checkout | Via partners | Coming | Yes | Yes | Yes (Pro) | Yes | Via platform |
| Brand Customization | Limited | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| B2B Commerce | Basic | No | No | No | No | Via Studio | Yes |
| Visual Search | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Multi-Platform Distribution | High | Protocol-level | None (walled) | Single | Single | Single | Low |
| Free for Merchants | Yes | Yes | Standard fees | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Setup Time | Days | Weeks | N/A | Days | Days | Days-Weeks | Months |
Pricing Comparison
| Platform | Merchant Cost | Shopper Cost | Per-Conversation Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Agentic Storefronts | Included (from $39/mo plan) | Free | None |
| Google UCP | Free protocol | Free | None |
| Amazon Rufus | Standard Amazon seller fees | Free | None |
| ChatGPT Instant Checkout | Free (via Shopify/Stripe) | Free | None |
| Perplexity Buy with Pro | Free (Merchant Program) | $20/month Pro | None |
| Microsoft Copilot | Free (via Shopify) | Free | None |
| Salesforce Agentforce | $125-$650/user/month + platform | N/A | $2/conversation |
Best Platform by Store Size
| Store Size | Best Platform(s) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo / Side Hustle | Shopify Basic + Agentic Storefronts | AI features free, one-toggle distribution |
| Small Business (<$1M) | Shopify Grow + UCP | Broadest reach at lowest cost |
| Mid-Market ($1M-$50M) | Shopify Plus + Stripe ACS | Advanced customization + multi-agent checkout |
| Enterprise ($50M+) | Salesforce Agentforce OR commercetools | Deep CRM, B2B, composable architecture |
| Amazon-Focused | Amazon Rufus + Shopify DTC | Maximize marketplace + own your DTC channel |
Infrastructure Players: Stripe and commercetools
Two companies deserve mention as infrastructure providers that power agentic commerce across platforms.
Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Suite (ACS) is the payment connective tissue. It powers checkout for both ChatGPT Instant Checkout and Microsoft Copilot Checkout. A single Stripe integration enables multi-agent checkout across platforms. Early adopters include Coach, Kate Spade, URBN, and Revolve.
commercetools offers enterprise composable commerce with Agentic Jumpstart (accelerated agent-ready setup) and AI Hub (connects product data to ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini simultaneously). JD Sports was the first retailer to deploy Stripe ACS with commercetools. Enterprise-only with custom order-based pricing.
For most Shopify merchants, you don’t need to interact with Stripe ACS or commercetools directly. Your Shopify plan handles these integrations. But if you’re on a custom platform or evaluating enterprise options, these infrastructure players matter.
What Should You Do Today?
84% of ecommerce businesses are either integrating AI or planning to (Industry surveys, 2025). But only 2% of organizations have reached full-scale agentic AI deployment (Industry maturity data, 2025). The gap between awareness and action is your opportunity.
Here are the specific steps by priority:
Step 1: Enable Shopify Agentic Storefronts (if you’re on Shopify). This is one toggle in your admin. It syndicates your products to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot simultaneously. Zero cost, minutes to set up.
Step 2: Optimize your product data. Every agentic commerce platform relies on clean, structured product data to recommend your products. Complete titles, detailed descriptions, specifications, high-quality images, customer reviews, and Schema.org markup. The data AI agents need is the foundation everything else builds on.
Step 3: Join the Perplexity Merchant Program. Free enrollment, separate from Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts. Gives you a dashboard with search and shopping trend data plus increased visibility.
Step 4: Monitor AI referral traffic. Check your analytics for traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Mode. This is a new channel that needs separate tracking.
Step 5: Prepare for UCP. When Shopify’s UCP integration launches (confirmed as coming), your products will be purchasable directly inside Google’s AI experiences. Having clean product data now means you’re ready on day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best agentic commerce platform for small businesses?
Shopify with Agentic Storefronts enabled. All AI features are included free on every plan (starting at $39/month), and a single toggle distributes your products to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot simultaneously. No other platform offers this breadth at this price point.
Do I need to pay extra for agentic commerce features?
On Shopify, no. Agentic Storefronts, Sidekick, and Magic are all included in your plan. On Salesforce Agentforce, yes. Pricing starts at $125/user/month plus per-conversation fees. Amazon, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot are all free for merchants.
How does UCP differ from ACP and MCP?
UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) is an open standard by Google covering the full shopping journey. ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) is by OpenAI/Stripe specifically for ChatGPT checkout. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is by Anthropic for connecting AI models to data sources. UCP has the broadest industry backing and is the most important for merchants to understand.
Can I use multiple agentic commerce platforms at once?
Yes, and you should. Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts let you enable ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot simultaneously. You can also sell on Amazon (Rufus), join the Perplexity Merchant Program, and implement UCP for Google. These platforms aren’t mutually exclusive.
Is Amazon Rufus available for non-Amazon sellers?
No. Rufus only surfaces products from the Amazon marketplace. If you don’t sell on Amazon, Rufus won’t discover your products. For DTC stores, focus on Shopify Agentic Storefronts and the Perplexity Merchant Program instead.
What is a Brand Agent on Microsoft Copilot?
Brand Agents let merchants customize how their products are described and recommended within Copilot. Unlike other platforms where the AI controls the presentation, Brand Agents bring your authentic brand voice into AI interactions. Available through Shopify integration.
How long does it take to set up agentic commerce?
On Shopify, minutes. Enable Agentic Storefronts with a toggle. On Perplexity, hours to days (Merchant Program enrollment plus product feed submission). On Salesforce, months (requires Commerce Cloud implementation plus Agentforce configuration).
Will agentic commerce replace my website?
No. Agentic commerce is a new distribution channel alongside your website, not a replacement. Your store remains the hub for branded experiences, content, and direct customer relationships. AI platforms are additional surfaces where customers discover and purchase your products.
What product data do agentic platforms need?
All platforms need: complete product titles and descriptions, specifications and attributes, high-quality images, pricing and inventory data, customer reviews, and Schema.org structured data markup. The quality of your data directly determines whether AI agents recommend your products.
Is agentic commerce worth it for stores under $100K revenue?
Yes, because the setup cost is zero on Shopify. Enabling Agentic Storefronts takes minutes and costs nothing beyond your existing plan. Even small stores benefit from being discoverable on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot. There’s no minimum revenue threshold for participation.
The Bottom Line
The agentic commerce landscape just expanded from zero to nine major platforms in roughly 12 months. Here’s how to navigate it:
For most Shopify merchants: Enable Agentic Storefronts (covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot), optimize your product data, and join the Perplexity Merchant Program. Total cost: $0 beyond your existing Shopify plan. Total setup time: under an hour.
For Amazon sellers: Optimize your listings for Rufus (detailed product descriptions, A+ Content, customer reviews), and consider a DTC Shopify store with Agentic Storefronts for channel diversification.
For enterprise retailers: Evaluate Salesforce Agentforce for B2B and multi-channel orchestration, or commercetools with Stripe ACS for composable architecture. Budget accordingly ($125/user/month+ for Salesforce).
Morgan Stanley projects agentic commerce could generate $3 trillion to $5 trillion globally by 2030, with U. S. B2C retail seeing up to $1 trillion in orchestrated revenue (Morgan Stanley, 2026). eMarketer estimates AI platforms will account for $20.9 billion in retail spending in 2026 alone.
The merchants who get their products on these platforms now will build momentum while the market is still early. The setup is free, the risk is zero, and the upside is a new revenue channel that’s growing faster than any channel in ecommerce history.
About Akash Radadiya
