Having your personal AI assistant order and pay for the groceries? That is rapidly becoming a reality: retailers and payment providers are working closely together. Such practices have an impact on customer service. Remy Gieling, co-founder of The Automation Group and AI.nl, shows what is coming our way in terms of 'agentic commerce' during Content Guru's Knowledge Event.
You are a tech watcher, so tell us: when will agentic commerce become a reality?
It has essentially been around for a while. Walmart in the US has been using AI since 2022 to handle all price negotiations with their smaller suppliers. Agentic commerce, a part of agentic AI, is now becoming available to consumers on a limited scale. I personally have an OpenClaw agent on my laptop linked to my Picnic account. This allows me to order groceries for the coming week by simply talking; it also checks my calendar to determine a suitable delivery date. This is relatively simple; however, these types of systems must also be able to process payments independently. Technically, that is possible, but the mandate must be properly set up. You want to prevent the AI agents consumers use from being manipulated into making unwanted purchasing decisions. For example: that they choose a premium brand cola while we are satisfied with the store brand.”
Source: Adobe Digital Insights
The majority of global website traffic nowadays consists of bots, according to figures from Cloudflare. And the traffic specifically of agentic AI bots to American retail sites the first quarter of 2026 grew by 393% compared to a year earlier, according to figures from Adobe.
“We will probably need to take a different view of e-commerce and content in the near future, as it has so far been developed primarily for human use. Cloudflare has, in any case, already developed a new protocol for identifying AI agents and assessing their mandate. This raises the question of whether we in Europe should not develop our own alternative to reduce our dependence on American solutions. Consider what happened with Anthropic’s Fable, which was blocked from the European market by the US.”
Can we already put our personal AI assistant to work to make purchases and pay?
In principle, yes. Agents can operate your computer, search for hotels, arrange a booking, and settle via credit card payment.
But exactly where the first significant growth of agentic commerce will become visible is still unclear to Gieling. “I expect that within 24 months it will become unusual to still encounter a checkout page for e-commerce purchases. That is going to disappear. The first shift is already visible: the orientation or discovery phase is already moving from browsing and comparing to placing an order with an agent like ChatGPT. That company recently announced the agentic checkout: so whatever ChatGPT recommends, you can also buy and pay for directly via Stripe.”
In other sectors, such as energy companies and installment payments, the volume of transactions is many times lower, which is why Gieling does not immediately expect widespread adoption there.
What do contact centers or customer service departments need to do to be prepared for the arrival of these AI agents?
“I think AI agents will increasingly start negotiating with customer service on behalf of their owners. Right now, it is still reactive: what is the best energy company for my situation? You could instruct your AI agent to contact your energy company and explore whether it is possible to get a better deal if you don’t switch. I suspect those kinds of situations will occur more frequently: via email, chat, or voice. 'I just spoke with company A, can I get that from you too?'”
Experts doubt whether AI agents will actually call the contact center. Additionally: how do you register in your CRM that a bot has called?
There will undoubtedly be a protocol for the latter. Bots have already been caught engaging in manipulative behavior within consumer forums. I do not rule out the possibility that we will first see a period where voicebots actually make phone calls. Perhaps that type of communication will later take place via APIs. However, it is the consumer who gives an instruction to the AI agent. If that amounts to 'contact customer service by phone,' I assume a call will be made. And a bot can go to great lengths to achieve a goal. The biggest bottleneck will soon be in your operations. Because those bot requests and questions will require follow-up in many cases.
What are you going to tell the audience during the Content Guru Knowledge Event?
“We are moving out of the era of reactive AI usage: we were prompting and getting an output. We are now entering a different phase, with systems that will proactively do things on behalf of people. This presents opportunities and risks, and companies will need to prepare for them.”
(Ziptone/Erik Bouwer)
On October 1, 2026 (12:00-17:00), Content Guru is organizing its annual Knowledge Event Customer Contact: The Future of CX at the iconic Madurodam in The Hague. The program includes a keynote by Remy Gieling, customer case studies, and knowledge sessions. Want to know more or sign up directly
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