Shopify’s Universal Commerce Revolution: AI-Powered Sales Integration 2026

Shopping inside AI conversations is no longer hypothetical, it is now a real channel with things like Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts, where customers can discover and buy directly inside ChatGPT or Copilot without ever leaving the chat.

On the surface, it looks like a natural progression. We have been trying to remove friction from the buying journey for years. Now the product shows up in the exact moment of intent: you ask a question, the recommendation appears, and checkout happens inside the same interface. No extra tabs, no competing distractions, no hoping the buyer makes it all the way through your funnel.

For entrepreneurs and smaller brands, there is real upside in that. New discovery surfaces are opening up in places that were never “shopping” environments before. If your products can appear when someone asks an AI for options or advice, you are suddenly part of the decision moment without needing them to find your site first. It is the digital equivalent of having a knowledgeable clerk standing next to every conversation about your category.

But here’s where it gets interesting, and a bit complicated. When your storefront lives inside someone else’s AI experience, how much control do you really have? Shopify may own the checkout and pass back the data, but the AI platform still sits between you and the buyer. It will decide which products to surface, how they are framed, and in what order they appear.

On January 11, 2026. Shopify announced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), co-developed with Google, marking a significant shift in how commerce integrates with artificial intelligence platforms. This isn’t just another payment gateway or checkout button, it’s a fundamental restructuring of where and how buying happens online.

TL;DR:

• Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts integrate commerce directly into AI chat platforms like Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot
• The Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) creates a standardized framework for AI-powered shopping experiences
• Non-Shopify merchants can now access AI sales channels through Shopify’s Agentic plan without building a full Shopify store

Understanding Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts

What Are Agentic Storefronts?

Agentic Storefronts represent Shopify’s answer to a fundamental question: what happens when people start shopping inside conversations instead of browsing websites? According to Vogue’s coverage of the launch, this feature allows consumers to interact with products and complete purchases directly within AI chat interfaces, removing the traditional need to navigate to a separate website or app.

Think about how you currently shop online. You search, click through results, compare options across multiple tabs, maybe abandon a cart or two, and eventually complete a purchase, if you make it that far. Agentic Storefronts compress that entire journey into a single conversational thread.

Victor Tam. CEO and Co-Founder of Monos, explains the appeal: “It’s a new way for our story and product details to show up at the exact moment someone is asking real questions with real intent, in a format that feels helpful, not intrusive.” Monos will sell directly in Google AI Mode and the Gemini app, positioning their luggage products exactly when travelers are asking AI assistants for recommendations.

The technology works by embedding commerce capabilities directly into AI platforms. When someone asks Google Gemini “What’s a good carry-on for international travel?” or asks Microsoft Copilot “Show me sustainable sneakers under £100,” merchants using Agentic Storefronts can appear in those results with full product details, pricing, and instant checkout, all without the user leaving the chat interface.

Merchant Benefits

For merchants, the value proposition is straightforward: meet customers where they’re already spending time. As AI chat platforms become primary interfaces for information discovery, they’re also becoming shopping destinations by default. Shopify has processed billions of transactions and supports millions of merchants globally, giving them unique insight into what actually drives conversions.

For businesses looking to stay competitive, understanding AI-powered SEO strategies is essential for modern digital marketing success.

Keen and Pura Vida are using Copilot Checkout. Microsoft’s implementation of this technology. Sam Buckingham. Director of Global Digital Product at KEEN, notes: “As one of the first Shopify brands to use Copilot Checkout, we’re proud to help lead the industry in defining this new sales channel.” Early adopters are essentially shaping how this entire category develops.

The rise of adaptive interfaces reflects how AI is revolutionizing website design, enabling platforms like Shopify to personalize user experiences in real time.

The practical benefits extend beyond just being present in AI conversations. Merchants gain access to a new discovery mechanism that doesn’t rely on traditional SEO, paid ads, or social media algorithms. When someone expresses genuine purchase intent through a question to an AI assistant, that’s a warm lead, far warmer than most traffic sources. The challenge, of course, is ensuring your products are the ones the AI recommends.

Shopify’s new agentic storefronts rely on intelligent automation, which aligns with the algorithmic trinity for AI success in digital ecosystems.

Gymshark and Everlane will also sell via Google AI Mode and Gemini, joining a growing roster of brands testing this new channel. For these companies, it’s not about replacing their existing e-commerce presence, it’s about adding another touchpoint where conversion happens naturally within the customer’s workflow.

The Universal Commerce Protocol Explained

Key Features of UCP

The Universal Commerce Protocol is Shopify’s attempt to create a shared language for AI-powered commerce. Vanessa Lee. VP at Shopify, emphasizes the scale of this ambition: “We have taken everything we’ve seen over the decades to make UCP a strong commerce standard that can scale.”

Here’s what makes UCP different from previous commerce integrations: it’s designed specifically for how AI agents operate. UCP allows agents to handle checkout flows including discount codes, loyalty credentials, subscription billing cadences, and selling terms like final sale or pre-order timing. These aren’t simple product listings, they’re complete commerce experiences that understand context and nuance.

The protocol supports multiple technical standards: REST. Model Context Protocol (MCP). Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and Agent2Agent (A2A). This matters because different AI platforms and commerce systems speak different languages. By supporting all these protocols. UCP ensures that any commerce stack can integrate with any AI platform without custom development for each combination.

According to Finextra’s deep dive on the protocol, this standardization addresses a critical barrier that was preventing AI commerce from scaling. Without a common protocol, every merchant would need custom integrations for Google. Microsoft, potentially OpenAI, and whoever else builds AI shopping experiences. That’s not sustainable, especially for smaller merchants.

How UCP Standardizes AI Shopping

Think of UCP as the HTML of AI commerce, a foundational standard that everyone can build on. Ashish Gupta. VP and GM of Merchant Shopping at Google, reinforces this vision: “The shift to agentic commerce will require a shared language across the ecosystem, and the Universal Commerce Protocol provides that framework.”

The standardization happens at multiple levels. First, product data needs to be structured in ways that Large Language Models (LLMs) can understand and present naturally in conversation. Shopify Catalog uses specialized LLMs to categorize and enrich product data, ensuring that when an AI describes your product, it’s accurate and compelling.

Second, the checkout process needs to work consistently across platforms while respecting each platform’s unique interface. UCP handles this by abstracting the commerce logic from the presentation layer. Whether someone is checking out in Google Gemini. Microsoft Copilot, or potentially ChatGPT in the future, the underlying transaction follows the same secure, reliable pattern.

Third, post-purchase experiences, order tracking, returns, customer service, need to connect back to the merchant’s systems easily. UCP ensures that data flows bidirectionally, so merchants maintain visibility and control even when the sale happens inside an AI interface they don’t own.

The protocol also addresses payment flexibility. While Shopify Payments is supported. UCP is compatible with any payment processor. This prevents vendor lock-in and allows merchants to use their existing payment infrastructure rather than being forced onto a specific platform.

Managing AI Storefronts with Shopify Admin

Centralized Control for Merchants

One of the smartest decisions Shopify made with Agentic Storefronts is keeping management centralized. Shopify merchants can manage AI storefronts centrally through Shopify Admin, the same dashboard they use for their main online store. This eliminates the nightmare scenario where merchants need to log into five different AI platforms to update product information, adjust pricing, or manage inventory.

From a single interface, merchants can configure which products appear in AI channels, set specific pricing or promotional rules for AI-driven sales, and monitor performance across all integrated platforms. This centralization is crucial for maintaining consistency, if you update a product description or change a price, it propagates to all AI storefronts automatically.

The admin interface also provides analytics specific to AI-driven commerce. Merchants can see which AI platforms are driving the most conversions, what questions or prompts are leading to purchases, and how AI-assisted sales compare to traditional e-commerce channels. This data is essential for optimizing product presentation and understanding how customers actually use AI shopping.

For businesses exploring AI marketing automation, this centralized approach demonstrates how automation should work, reducing complexity rather than adding it. The goal isn’t to force merchants to become AI experts; it’s to make AI channels as easy to manage as any other sales channel.

Ensuring Data Integrity and Security

When commerce happens inside third-party AI platforms, data security becomes paramount. Shopify’s infrastructure handles billions of transactions, giving them extensive experience with secure payment processing and data protection. That expertise carries over to Agentic Storefronts.

The architecture ensures that sensitive customer data, payment information, personal details, purchase history, remains protected even as it moves between AI platforms and merchant systems. Shopify acts as the trusted intermediary, handling authentication and encryption while maintaining compliance with global data regulations including GDPR and various regional privacy laws.

For merchants, this means they don’t need to worry about whether Google or Microsoft’s AI platforms meet their security standards. Shopify provides that layer of protection and compliance, similar to how payment gateways handle PCI compliance for credit card processing. The merchant gets the data they need to fulfill orders and serve customers, but the AI platform never has direct access to sensitive information.

This security model also addresses the question of customer relationships. Even though the sale happens inside an AI chat, the merchant still owns the customer relationship. They receive the customer’s information (with appropriate consent), can communicate directly with them, and can build that relationship over time through their own channels.

Google’s Role: Direct Offers and AI Mode

Exclusive Deals with Google’s Direct Offers Pilot

Google’s Direct Offers pilot allows select Shopify merchants to present exclusive deals directly in AI Mode, creating a new type of promotional channel. Think of it as a featured placement, but instead of appearing at the top of search results, your offer appears when the AI determines it’s the most relevant answer to someone’s shopping query.

According to The Logic’s analysis of the partnership, this pilot program is Google’s way of testing how commerce integrates with their AI products without disrupting the user experience that made Google Search valuable in the first place. The deals aren’t intrusive ads, they’re contextual offers that appear when they genuinely match user intent.

For merchants participating in the pilot, the opportunity is significant. Being recommended by Google’s AI carries inherent credibility, especially when the recommendation comes with an exclusive discount or special offer. It’s similar to getting featured in Google Shopping results, but potentially more powerful because it’s presented as a helpful suggestion rather than a paid placement.

The pilot is currently limited to select Shopify merchants, likely as Google and Shopify refine how these offers are presented, measured, and optimized. As the program expands, we can expect more sophisticated targeting, allowing merchants to create offers that appear for specific queries, user contexts, or shopping scenarios.

Advantages of Google AI Mode

Google AI Mode represents a fundamental shift in how people search and discover products. Instead of clicking through ten blue links, users get direct answers with actionable options. When those options include the ability to purchase immediately, the entire customer journey compresses dramatically.

Native shopping is rolling out in Google AI Mode and the Gemini app, powered by UCP. This means product recommendations aren’t just links to external websites, they’re interactive shopping experiences embedded directly in the AI conversation. You can ask follow-up questions, compare options, check availability, and complete checkout without leaving the interface.

For merchants, this creates visibility in moments of high intent. When someone asks “What’s the best running shoe for flat feet?” and your product appears with detailed information, customer reviews, and instant purchase capability, you’re capturing demand at exactly the right moment. Traditional SEO might get you traffic, but AI Mode can get you conversions directly.

The challenge, which we’ll explore more later, is understanding how Google’s AI decides which products to surface. Unlike traditional search where ranking factors are somewhat transparent (even if constantly evolving). AI recommendations involve complex decision-making processes that aren’t always clear to merchants. This opacity creates both opportunity and risk.

Microsoft’s Partnership: Copilot Checkout

Copilot Checkout: Streamlining Purchases

Microsoft Copilot integration now includes Copilot Checkout, an embedded shopping experience that works across Microsoft’s ecosystem, including Windows. Microsoft 365, and potentially Xbox in the future. Nayna Sheth. Head of Product for Agentic Payments at Microsoft, explains the value proposition: “With Copilot Checkout. Shopify merchants can meet customers exactly when intent peaks while remaining at the center of every interaction and in control from start to finish.”

The “in control from start to finish” part is crucial. It addresses the concern about losing the customer relationship when sales happen inside third-party platforms. Microsoft’s implementation ensures that while the transaction occurs within Copilot, the merchant maintains visibility, receives complete data, and owns the ongoing relationship.

Copilot Checkout supports the full range of commerce activities you’d expect from a traditional online store. Customers can apply discount codes, use loyalty points, set up subscription billing, and understand specific purchase terms like whether an item is final sale or available for pre-order. These details matter, they’re often the difference between a completed purchase and an abandoned cart.

The integration works particularly well for Microsoft’s business users. Imagine a procurement manager asking Copilot to find office supplies that meet specific sustainability criteria, comparing options, and completing the purchase through their company’s approved payment method, all within the flow of their regular work. That’s the kind of embedded commerce that Copilot Checkout enables.

Feedback from Early Adopters

Early adopter feedback has been notably positive, though it’s worth noting we’re still in the early stages of this technology. KEEN, one of the first brands to implement Copilot Checkout, has reported successful integration and strong customer engagement. Sam Buckingham’s comment about “leading the industry in defining this new sales channel” reflects both the opportunity and the uncertainty, everyone is figuring this out together.

Pura Vida, the jewelry brand also using Copilot Checkout, benefits from the platform’s ability to showcase visual products within conversational contexts. When someone asks for gift recommendations. Pura Vida’s products can appear with images, descriptions, and purchase options that feel native to the Copilot experience rather than like external advertisements.

The satisfaction with ease of integration is particularly noteworthy. One of the biggest barriers to adopting new sales channels is technical complexity. If implementing Copilot Checkout required months of development work and ongoing maintenance, most merchants wouldn’t bother. The fact that Shopify merchants can activate it through their existing admin interface dramatically lowers the barrier to entry.

For businesses in Swansea and across the UK looking to expand their digital presence, understanding these AI-powered marketing tools becomes increasingly important. The brands succeeding with Agentic Storefronts aren’t necessarily the biggest or most technical, they’re the ones willing to experiment with new channels while maintaining their core business focus.

Impacts on E-Commerce: A SWOT Analysis

Strengths and Opportunities

The most obvious strength is reach. AI chat platforms are becoming primary interfaces for how people interact with information online. By establishing commerce capabilities in these platforms now, merchants gain first-mover advantages in a channel that’s likely to grow significantly over the next few years.

The opportunity for real-time data analytics is substantial. Traditional e-commerce analytics tell you what people did on your website, but AI-powered commerce can reveal what people were thinking, asking, and considering before they made a purchase. This intent data is incredibly valuable for product development, marketing, and customer service improvements.

Streamlined processes attract tech-savvy consumers who value efficiency. The demographic that’s comfortable asking AI assistants for shopping recommendations tends to be younger, higher-income, and more willing to try new products. Capturing this audience early builds long-term customer relationships as AI shopping becomes more mainstream.

There’s also a democratizing effect. Smaller brands that couldn’t afford to compete in traditional search advertising or couldn’t get featured placement in major marketplaces now have a chance to appear when their products genuinely answer someone’s question. If you make the best sustainable yoga mat and someone asks an AI for exactly that, you might get recommended alongside or instead of major brands with huge marketing budgets.

Weaknesses and Threats

The flip side of opportunity is dependence. When your storefront lives inside someone else’s AI experience, you’re building on rented land. Google. Microsoft, or OpenAI could change how their AI platforms work, adjust their recommendation algorithms, or decide to prioritize different types of products or merchants. You have limited recourse if those changes hurt your business.

Data security concerns exist even with Shopify’s protections in place. The more platforms your customer data touches, the more potential vulnerabilities exist. While Shopify handles the sensitive information, the AI platforms still collect interaction data, what questions people asked, what products they viewed, how they responded to recommendations. This data has value, and it’s not always clear who owns it or how it might be used.

Brand dilution is a real risk when your products appear in generic AI recommendations. If someone asks for “comfortable walking shoes” and your brand appears alongside five competitors in a neutral list, what differentiates you? Your carefully crafted brand story, your unique value proposition, your distinct visual identity, all of that gets compressed into a few lines of AI-generated description. You’re competing purely on features and price, which is rarely where brands want to compete.

There’s also the question of customer service. When someone has a problem with a purchase they made through an AI chat, where do they go for help? Do they ask the AI? Contact the merchant directly? The customer journey becomes fragmented, and ensuring consistent service quality across all touchpoints becomes more challenging.

Localizing Experience: Impact on Swansea

Regional Trends and Implementation

For businesses in Swansea, the Universal Commerce Protocol and Agentic Storefronts represent access to global infrastructure without needing global resources. A Swansea-based retailer selling Welsh crafts, specialty foods, or local products can suddenly appear in AI shopping recommendations for users worldwide who are asking about authentic Welsh products or unique UK gifts.

The regional digital transformation initiatives across Wales have been preparing businesses for exactly this kind of opportunity. As more Swansea SMEs develop their online presence and e-commerce capabilities, integrating with AI platforms becomes a natural next step rather than a radical departure. The infrastructure is there, it’s about knowing how to use it effectively.

Local businesses can also use AI commerce to better serve their existing customer base. Someone in Swansea searching for “local coffee roasters” or “independent bookshops near me” could receive AI recommendations that include direct purchase options for local businesses that have set up Agentic Storefronts. This bridges the gap between online discovery and local commerce.

The key for Swansea businesses is understanding that this isn’t just about technology, it’s about how your products and services fit into people’s conversations. What questions would someone ask an AI that should lead to your business? How can you structure your product information so AI platforms understand your unique value? These are new skills that local businesses need to develop.

Successes and Case Studies

While specific Swansea case studies are still emerging (the technology only launched in early 2026), we can look at how similar-sized UK businesses are approaching AI commerce. A mid-sized Swansea retailer that implemented early AI storefront capabilities reported increased online visibility and a noticeable uptick in inquiries from customers who discovered them through AI recommendations rather than traditional search.

The pattern we’re seeing is that businesses with strong product knowledge and clear value propositions do best in AI commerce environments. When an AI can clearly articulate why someone should choose your product, whether it’s because you’re local, sustainable, uniquely crafted, or solve a specific problem, you get recommended. Generic products with nothing distinctive struggle to stand out in AI recommendations just like they struggle everywhere else.

Community engagement through innovative marketing strategies also plays a role. Swansea businesses that actively participate in local digital marketing communities, share their experiences with new platforms, and collaborate on best practices are positioning themselves as leaders in this space. As AI commerce matures, these early adopters will have valuable expertise that newer entrants will need to catch up on.

For businesses considering content creation strategies that work with AI platforms, the lesson is clear: focus on being genuinely helpful and informative. AI platforms reward content that answers real questions with specific, accurate information. The more clearly you can communicate what you offer and who it’s for, the better AI assistants can match you with relevant customers.

Key Takeaways

Let’s be real about what this all means. Shopify’s integration with AI chat platforms is genuinely game-changing, but it’s not a magic solution that works automatically. The Universal Commerce Protocol simplifies and standardizes the AI shopping experience, which is huge, it means you don’t need custom development for every AI platform you want to sell through. That levels the playing field considerably.

The successful case studies we’re seeing showcase transformative potential, but they also reveal a pattern: the brands winning in AI commerce are the ones that already had strong product-market fit, clear value propositions, and good product data. AI commerce amplifies what you’re already doing well; it doesn’t fix fundamental business problems.

For Swansea businesses and SMEs across the UK, the opportunity is real. You can use global tools for local growth, reaching customers in ways that weren’t possible before. A specialty food producer in Swansea can appear in AI recommendations for someone in London. Manchester, or even internationally asking for authentic Welsh products. That’s powerful.

But, and this is important, maintaining brand integrity requires strategic planning. You need to think carefully about how your products are described, what information you provide to AI platforms, and how you maintain your unique identity when the AI is doing the talking. This is where having expertise in AI business automation becomes valuable, not just for the technical implementation but for the strategic thinking about how automation serves your business goals.

The Agentic plan opens doors for non-Shopify merchants too, allowing participation without full Shopify setup. This lowers the barrier to entry significantly. You can test AI commerce channels without completely rebuilding your e-commerce infrastructure. That’s the kind of flexibility that makes experimentation viable for smaller businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts work?

Agentic Storefronts allow seamless commerce within AI chat environments like Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. You configure your products once through Shopify Admin, and they become available across various AI platforms automatically. When someone asks an AI assistant a question that matches your products, you can appear in the recommendations with full product details, pricing, and instant checkout capability, all without the customer leaving the chat interface.

The technical magic happens through the Universal Commerce Protocol, which handles the translation between your product data and what AI platforms need to present your products naturally in conversation. You don’t need to understand the technical details; you just need to ensure your product information is complete and accurate in Shopify Admin.

What is the Universal Commerce Protocol?

The Universal Commerce Protocol is a standardized framework for AI shopping experiences, designed to create a common language between commerce systems and AI platforms. It supports multiple technical protocols including REST. Model Context Protocol (MCP). Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and Agent2Agent (A2A), ensuring compatibility across different platforms and systems.

UCP facilitates complete checkout and transaction handling, including complex scenarios like applying discount codes, using loyalty credentials, managing subscription billing cadences, and communicating specific selling terms like final sale or pre-order timing. It’s essentially the infrastructure that makes AI commerce work smoothly at scale.

Can non-Shopify merchants access AI channels?

Yes, the Agentic plan allows participation without a full Shopify setup. Non-Shopify merchants can list their products in the Shopify Catalog and sell through AI channels without building an entire Shopify store. This significantly expands reach beyond traditional Shopify boundaries and makes AI commerce accessible to businesses that use other e-commerce platforms or have custom-built systems.

This flexibility is part of Shopify’s broader strategy to position themselves as infrastructure for commerce rather than just a store builder. By opening Shopify Catalog to non-Shopify merchants, they’re creating a network effect where more products in AI channels benefit everyone by making AI shopping more useful and comprehensive.

What AI platforms support Shopify’s integration?

Currently. Google AI Mode, the Google Gemini app, and Microsoft Copilot support Shopify’s integration. These are the platforms where Agentic Storefronts and Copilot Checkout are actively rolling out. Given the success of these initial integrations, it’s reasonable to expect additional AI platforms to join over time, potentially including ChatGPT and other emerging AI assistants.

The variety of platforms means merchants can reach customers across different contexts, whether they’re using Google for research. Microsoft Copilot for work-related purchases, or other AI assistants for personal shopping. Each platform brings its own audience and use cases, giving merchants multiple touchpoints for customer engagement.

How does AI commerce impact local businesses in Swansea?

AI commerce provides Swansea businesses with access to global audiences through AI channels that weren’t previously available. A local business can appear in AI recommendations for users anywhere in the world who are asking questions related to their products or services. This is particularly valuable for businesses selling unique local products, crafts, or specialty items that have appeal beyond their immediate geographic area.

At the same time. AI commerce helps Swansea businesses better serve their local market. When someone in or near Swansea asks an AI for local shopping recommendations, businesses with proper AI storefront setups can appear with direct purchase or visit options. This bridges online discovery with local commerce in ways that benefit both businesses and customers. The competitive edge comes from being early to adopt these technologies while larger competitors are still figuring them out.

Conclusion: Commerce’s New Frontier

Commerce woven into AI conversations is coming, whether we’re ready or not. Actually, it’s already here, the question is not simply, “Should I plug my products into these systems?” It’s, “How do I design this so that my business still owns its relationship with the customer?”

I’m watching this shift with interest and caution. The opportunity is undeniable. Being present in the exact moment someone expresses purchase intent, having the AI assistant serve as a knowledgeable guide to your products, removing friction from the buying journey, these are genuine improvements to how commerce works. Victor Tam got it right when he described it as showing up “at the exact moment someone is asking real questions with real intent, in a format that feels helpful, not intrusive.”

But we shouldn’t ignore the structural tensions. How transparent will ranking and selection really be? Whose incentives shape what the buyer sees first? What does “customer relationship” mean when the primary interaction is with the AI, not your brand? These aren’t hypothetical concerns, they’re questions every business needs to answer as they decide how deeply to integrate with AI commerce platforms.

For builders and entrepreneurs, this is where the real work lives. Yes, we should experiment with these new channels. The brands that learn how AI commerce works now will have significant advantages as it becomes mainstream. But we also need to be deliberate about protecting brand integrity when the “front door” is no longer our website, understanding what data we truly get back and what we’re giving up, and designing experiences where the AI augments trust instead of quietly owning it.

The Universal Commerce Protocol. Agentic Storefronts, and partnerships with Google and Microsoft represent Shopify’s vision for how this should work. They’ve built infrastructure that gives merchants control while enabling seamless AI commerce experiences. Whether that balance holds as AI platforms evolve and compete for dominance remains to be seen.

For now, the strategic move is to engage thoughtfully. Set up your Agentic Storefront if you’re a Shopify merchant. Test how your products appear in AI recommendations. Monitor what questions lead to your products being surfaced. Gather data on how AI-driven sales compare to traditional channels. Build expertise in this new medium while maintaining your core business and brand identity.

The businesses that will thrive in AI commerce aren’t necessarily the ones that go all-in first. They’re the ones that experiment strategically, learn continuously, and maintain clear ownership of their customer relationships even as the buying journey becomes more distributed across platforms. That’s the balance we all need to find as commerce’s new frontier takes shape.