Retail is fundamentally shifting. Agentic AI is no longer just a buzzword. It’s being tested in live environments, aiming to reshape how people discover, choose, and buy.
But adoption is still early. In 2025, 55% of business leaders say they’re somewhat familiar with agentic AI, 43% are considering its implementation within the next year, and just 28% have begun piloting real-world use cases. The potential is clear, but the road to the mainstream is still under construction.
What Is Agentic AI and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?
Agentic AI marks the next stage of artificial intelligence. Instead of waiting for prompts, these systems can perceive, plan, act, and reflect – a continuous loop that allows them to operate with real autonomy. This autonomy is what sets agentic systems apart from generative AI.
This means an agent can set a goal, decide how to achieve it, execute steps across different systems, and improve from the outcome. It’s proactive problem-solving.
Looking for a full breakdown of the fundamentals? Here’s how to get your platform ready for agentic commerce.
Retail Opportunities: Where AI Agents Change the Game
Agentic AI is transforming how retail works. For brands, agents don’t just assist – they run the play. They forecast demand, shift stock before shelves go empty, or create personalized campaigns. Customer service turns from fire-fighting into problem-preventing.
This development of AI offers retailers real, tangible benefits, such as:
- Smarter demand moves
- Campaigns that adapt in real time
- Service that fixes issues before they’re noticed
For consumers, the shift is just as striking. Instead of battling dropdown menus, they can simply say “I need an outfit for a beach wedding under 200 dollars,” and instantly get a curated set of options.
For consumers, agentic AI reshapes the shopping journey, allowing them to:
- Shop by intent, not filters
- Receive suggestions that fit context and personal taste
- Avoid decision fatigue and be more confident in purchases
The real opportunities agentic systems present are goal-driven shopping journeys where agents do the heavy lifting.
Where Agentic AI Is Already Changing Retail Workflows
Agentic AI is beginning to slip into real retail processes, acting as an engine that rethinks entire workflows.
In merchandising, agents can analyze buying trends, anticipate demand spikes, and trigger replenishment before stockouts happen. While in customer engagement, they move from scripted chatbots to digital shopping companions. And in after-sales, agents can track deliveries, spot issues early, and initiate solutions without waiting for a support ticket.
The foundations for this shift are already visible. Perplexity’s Comet shows how agents can manage multistep tasks over time instead of single answers. Google Cloud frames agentic systems as the natural evolution of enterprise AI, highlighting their ability to perceive, plan, act, and reflect across complex commerce environments.
Walmart is already building task-specific AI agents on a retail LLM. It will route and resolve support requests, run a shopping assistant that carries customers from discovery to purchase, and automate day-to-day store tasks. These AI agents are already perceiving needs, planning next steps, and taking action in production pilots.
Find out how industry leaders view the shift towards AI. Watch our masterclass, eCommerce Replatforming: How Will AI Shape Future Retail Tech Teams?
What’s Standing in the Way of Agentic AI?
The promise of agentic AI is huge, but getting from early pilots to everyday use isn’t frictionless. Several hurdles still stand in the way:
- Data quality and access: Agents are only as good as the data they run on. Fragmented systems and stale information can break the magic fast.
- Privacy and trust: Handing over decisions to an AI agent requires confidence that personal data is handled securely and responsibly.
- Integration complexity: Many retailers still operate on rigid, monolithic systems that make it hard to plug in new agentic capabilities.
- Ease of use: Shoppers won’t adopt agents if interactions feel clunky or opaque. Simplicity and transparency are non-negotiable.
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Standards and regulation: With few guardrails in place, scaling agentic AI responsibly remains a moving target.
None of these challenges are deal-breakers, but they explain why the leap from innovation labs to mainstream shopping baskets will take time.
So… How Far Away Are We, Really?
The short answer: closer than you might think. According to Gartner, by 2029 agentic AI will autonomously resolve 80% of common customer service issues without human intervention. Today, however, adoption is still at an early stage: the Capgemini Research Institute reports that only 14% of organizations have AI agents in partial or full deployment and 23% are running pilots, with customer service among the first areas where agents are being used. This gap shows how quickly pilots are expected to mature into day-to-day operations within just a few years.
McKinsey’s analysis shows that businesses already experimenting with agentic systems are gaining measurable benefits in customer engagement and efficiency. Those who wait risk falling behind.
For consumers, this translates into faster, more intuitive shopping where agents handle the heavy lifting. For retailers, it means shifting from isolated tests to enterprise-wide adoption once hurdles like trust, governance, and scalable infrastructures are in place.
So the mainstream moment isn’t here yet, but the runway is short. By the end of the decade, agentic AI will be the norm.
Agentic AI: It’s Not “If” – It’s “How Fast”
Agentic AI is a race already underway. The technology is advancing quickly, real pilots are in motion, and industry leaders expect it to become standard by 2030.
The real question for retailers isn’t whether agentic commerce will go mainstream. It’s whether they’ll be ready when it does. Those who build flexible foundations today will be able to plug into new capabilities as they mature. Those who don’t may find themselves playing catch-up in a market that moves faster than ever. Agentic AI won’t wait – and neither will your customers.
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