Your Next Customer Might Be an AI Agent (And That Changes Everything)
Digital Hustler with millions generated in ad revenue. SEO strongman. PPC, affiliate and content marketing heavyweight. Part time philanthropist, full time football nut.
Imagine your customer doesn’t scroll, click, or even type a search query. They just ask their AI assistant to buy something, and it handles the rest. This isn’t a distant sci-fi fantasy; it’s the imminent reality of marketing.
This new paradigm is emerging where AI agents – not humans – navigate the digital world on our behalf.
“2025 is being dubbed ‘the year of agents,’” says David Hsu, CEO of Retool. “Companies like OpenAI and Salesforce are pushing to replace manual workflows with autonomous AI tools.”
— Business Insider
But what does that mean for the future of e-commerce, brands and consumers?
From search engines to AI Agents: A behavioural shift
Right now, the typical online purchase starts with a search query or a product page. That process is time-consuming and often overwhelming. But AI is changing the funnel.
Imagine saying: “Find me a durable carry-on suitcase under £200 that fits airline size rules.”
Your AI assistant considers your travel habits, past purchases, favourite brands, airline preferences and even aesthetic tastes, then recommends three choices or even buys the best one automatically.
This isn’t a niche future. It’s where AI is heading.
“We’re moving toward agents that act, not just respond,” says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. “Eventually, these agents will do complex tasks like booking trips or shopping across platforms – without users touching a UI.”
— Paraphrased from Altman’s remarks at OpenAI Spring Update (May 2024)
AI agents and advertising
This shift towards agent-centric commerce will profoundly reshape advertising. Traditional display ads, banner placements and even search ads that rely on human clicks may become less effective as AI agents increasingly filter information and make decisions on behalf of consumers. Instead, advertising will likely evolve into a more integrated, data-driven, and permission-based model.
Brands will need to focus on optimising their presence within AI ecosystems, ensuring their products are discoverable and favourably presented by agents. This could mean a greater emphasis on structured data, strong brand reputation signals and potentially new forms of “agent-friendly” sponsorships or partnerships that influence AI recommendations rather than directly soliciting human clicks.
The battle for consumer attention will move from crowded web pages to the algorithms and trusted data sources that power these intelligent assistants.
This highlights a potential future where the economic incentives for advertising fundamentally change, pushing marketers to rethink how they invest in visibility and conversion.
Why websites may fade, and marketplaces will rule
Inevitably this will create a zero click environment for most websites. Digital agents will be the conduit between consumers and websites. Those agents will favour platforms and marketplaces that offer structured, real-time data, trusted logistics and seamless APIs.
This means:
- Amazon, with its unparalleled logistics and fulfilment infrastructure, is perfectly positioned to become the ubiquitous supply chain backend.
- Google, as the world’s information arbiter, could solidify its role as the definitive fact-checking and validation layer for AI agents.
- OpenAI, driving the conversational interface revolution, is poised to become the primary human-AI interface layer, mediating user requests.
This changes how brands categorise themselves online.
The rise of digital personas: Are you a Google, OpenAI or Amazon person?
Just as we once divided by browser or operating system, my prediction is people will increasingly align with AI ecosystems.
- The OpenAI Person: Converses with ChatGPT for everything – from shopping to meal planning. Their assistant roams freely across marketplaces.
- The Amazon Person: Stays within the Amazon ecosystem. Alexa reorders, suggests and restocks their world.
- The Google Person: Leverages Gemini and Google Shopping. Search blends into service, and search results become direct actions.
Your AI’s allegiance will shape your online experience – and influence how brands compete for your attention.
But let’s be clear: AI won’t replace all shopping
This future isn’t a leap. We’re already seeing AI reshape commerce.
Current trends show:
- 35% of Amazon sales come from AI-powered recommendations
— AllOutSEO - 30% of e-commerce revenue growth is tied to AI personalisation
— SEO Sandwitch - 80% of customer interactions may be managed by AI chatbots by 2030
— Gartner
AI agents will dominate low-consideration, routine purchases:
- Grocery restocks
- Tech accessories
- Household goods
- Subscription-based products
But humans will still drive:
- Emotional purchases (e.g., fashion, gifts, luxury items)
- Discovery experiences (e.g., browse stores or curated content)
- Ethical decisions (e.g., sustainable or local products)
AI is not replacing all of the marketing funnel, it’s replacing the friction around repetitive decisions.
Some decisions are deeply personal, and no AI (no matter how advanced) can replace the joy of discovery or the nuance of a gut feeling.
What about the risks?
But with every paradigm shift come significant challenges. An agent-first economy introduces real concerns that brands and consumers alike must be aware of.
Bias
Will agents favour certain platforms or brands, nudging consumers toward what’s algorithmically convenient, potentially impacting your brand’s visibility?
Privacy
How much data will these agents need to make good decisions – and who controls it? Brands will need to earn the trust of AI agents (and users) through robust privacy practices.
Lock-in
As users become tied into AI ecosystems, switching becomes harder. That consolidates power among a few platforms, posing a strategic challenge for brands trying to maintain a direct customer relationship.
As AI intermediates our lives, control shifts from individuals to corporate systems. Who gets to decide what an AI recommends?.
We must navigate these concerns as we build.
A prediction: What’s coming and when?
- 2025–2026: Agents dominate simple queries (shopping, booking, comparisons)
- 2027–2028: Agents gain trust in managing transactions (subscriptions, recurring purchases)
- 2030 and beyond: Agent-led shopping becomes standard for low-consideration purchases
For brands: How to prepare for agent-centric commerce
You’re no longer just selling to people, you’re selling to algorithms acting on behalf of people. That changes how you win.
Get agent-ready:
- Structure your product data: Use schemas and machine-readable formats (e.g., JSON-LD, schema.org) to make your offering easily digestible by AI.
- Optimise for marketplace APIs: Make your catalogue available on platforms like Amazon, Google Shopping, Shopify, and others that agents will query.
- Build trust signals: Verified reviews, social presence, PR, clear return policies and reliable fulfilment matter more than ever, as agents will prioritise trustworthy sources.
- Create conversational interfaces: Explore integrating with ChatGPT, Alexa, or Google Assistant to exhibit products through dialogue, preparing for voice-first interactions.
- Think post-purchase: Adapt your customer service and loyalty programmes to work with AI agents, who will increasingly manage support queries on behalf of their users.
- Understand the new gatekeepers: Stay on top of how AI platforms monetise, rank and recommend products. Will you need to pay to appear? Can you influence AI rankings through optimisation?
Final thought: Are you optimising for humans, or their AI Agents?
Marketing isn’t being handed over to the bots –- it’s transforming. The new consumer doesn’t scroll, they ask. They don’t compare, they trust their agent to do it. The winners will be brands that learn to market not just to people but to the systems that speak for them.
In five years, your brand might not need a website. It will need a presence, perfectly organised for the “minds” of machines.
Talk to our team to start building that presence today.
Related Posts
