Mastercard executive Sherri Haymond defines agentic commerce as a new mechanism that allows AI to perform purchase tasks on behalf of consumers. This technology enables agents to search for products, compare prices, and complete transactions across various platforms and merchant sites.
Current examples include Amazon’s Buy for Me feature, which facilitates purchases from external merchants ranging from $25 to several hundred dollars, and Google’s AI Mode, which allows checkouts via Google Pay directly within search results.
Haymond emphasizes that agentic commerce is not a separate shopping channel but an accelerant integrated into existing mobile, web, and app interfaces. She anticipates that these capabilities will expand as user interfaces become more intuitive for non-technical consumers.
A key challenge for payment participants is maintaining visibility into the specific authority granted to an agent. This transparency is essential for resolving disputes and managing chargebacks when transactions involve delegated purchasing power.
To simplify integrations, merchants can utilize technologies like MCP or WebMCP to expose product data to agents. This approach reduces the need for custom connections and addresses merchant concerns regarding the sharing of product catalogs with third-party platforms.
