Checkout.com, a leading global digital payments company, has found a
growing gap between emerging consumer demand and the trust, control and
infrastructure needed to support agentic commerce.
This is according to Checkout.com’s new report, Agentic Commerce 2026: The State of Consumer Demand and Merchant Readiness.
While
a significant segment of global consumers expect AI shopping to scale
quickly, the UAE is outstripping all other surveyed regions in adoption
velocity. For UAE consumers not yet using the technology, they expect
agentic commerce to handle 10% or more of their online shopping in just
12 months on average. Overall, 79% of UAE consumers feel comfortable
letting an AI complete a purchase for them, and only 2% said they would
not be motivated to use an AI shopping agent at all.
The result
is a unique shift in consumer dynamics where trust boundaries are being
entirely redrawn in the UAE. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of UAE consumers
agree they would trust an AI shopping agent more than their own family
members to shop for them – dramatically higher than the US (27%) or the
UK (25%). Furthermore, 64% believe an AI shopping agent would buy
clothes that suit them better than they can pick out for themselves.
This
comfort extends into highly sensitive financial categories; nearly a
quarter of UAE consumers (24%) are comfortable sharing their salary,
disposable income, and real-time bank balance with an AI, while 19%
would grant it access to their personal calendar.
Consumers are
clear on how organizations can nurture trust with agentic commerce, but
in the UAE, this automation comes with reshaping of brand loyalty. The
research found that 71% of UAE shoppers would let an AI shopping agent
switch their preferred brands and substitute products if it found a
better value option. To counteract this, 24% state that knowing the AI
would only buy from retailers or brands they have pre-approved would
most increase their confidence in the technology.
Agentic
commerce for UAE consumers is being driven by convenience, but it also
reveals atypical shopping behaviors. While Western consumers relegate
complex purchases to the bottom of their lists, the UAE is unusually
open to AI handling their money, with 22% saying financial services and
insurance products would be among the first things they delegate to an
AI. Additionally, 72% would use an AI agent specifically to beat the
digital queues for festival or event tickets, and 62% admit they would
use an AI shopping agent to purchase items on their behalf without
telling anyone they were doing it.
The findings suggest that as
agentic commerce scales, UAE consumers are shifting liability to the
banks. If an AI agent makes a mistake, like buying the wrong item or
incurring an unexpected cost, 17% of UAE shoppers believe the payment
provider, bank, or card provider should be primarily responsible for
fixing it and issuing a refund.
Rory O’Neill, CMO at
Checkout.com, said, “Agentic commerce is quickly moving from concept to
reality. Consumers are beginning to experiment with AI agents for
everyday purchases, and across the industry we’re seeing rapid
collaboration around the protocols and standards that will support this
next phase of ecommerce. But while adoption is ramping up, the
infrastructure behind it is still developing.
Consumers need
confidence that AI agents will operate within clear controls around
security, refunds, permissions and spend limits. Until those foundations
are in place, trust will remain one of the biggest barriers to
adoption.”
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