Think back to the last time you made a purchase online. Now picture that whole journey — searching, comparing, and checking out — being handled entirely by your AI assistant instead of you. Welcome to 2026, where agentic artificial intelligence isn’t just a marketing tool. It’s the customer. These AI agents act on behalf of people: they scan product catalogs, evaluate alternatives, trigger payments, and manage communications — all instantly. For marketers, this isn’t a distant scenario. It’s a new reality they must adjust to immediately.
From omnichannel to agentic commerce
For years, marketers have invested in omnichannel experiences, only for AI to fundamentally rewrite the rules. Autonomous agents don’t “browse” websites or tap through apps the way humans do. They take direct actions — and they do it quickly. “Retail evolves from omnichannel to agentic commerce,” said Mark Menell, managing director at Silicon Foundry. “AI agents surface, compare, and purchase for consumers. Retailers who expose catalog and loyalty data via APIs become agent-friendly storefronts and win share.”
Put simply, if your product and loyalty data aren’t clean, structured, and accessible, they’re effectively invisible to the agents making the purchasing decisions.
Dig deeper: Agentic AI, Decoded: A Practical Guide for Marketers
Agents don’t shop — they decide
Eii Promisel, also with Silicon Foundry, is even more direct: “Shopping, payments and financing increasingly move to autonomous agents, reshaping the end-to-end consumer journey. Banks compete not on app UX, but API access and trust.” People still create the demand, but AI is what actually completes the transaction.
So what becomes your role as a marketer? Make sure your brand is discoverable, trustworthy, and machine-readable.