AI-driven traffic to retailers' websites converted 42% more often than non-AI traffic in March 2026, according to Adobe data (Digital Commerce 360 - AI). This marks a significant reversal: a year earlier, visitors from AI sources converted at nearly half the rate of non-AI traffic. The improvement underscores how agentic commerce—where AI agents facilitate discovery and purchase decisions—is maturing as a commerce channel.
For commerce practitioners, this conversion trajectory has immediate implications for technology stack investments and website optimization. Retailers are increasingly viewing AI-powered discovery not as an experimental channel but as a core traffic and conversion driver that demands strategic resource allocation. Major players including Amazon, Walmart, Google, and OpenAI are already making key decisions about their AI priorities for ecommerce, with payment leaders like Visa and Mastercard choosing partners to support AI-facilitated transactions (Digital Commerce 360 - AI).
Competition is intensifying across the agentic commerce landscape. Amazon has restricted third-party AI agents while investing in first-party tools, while Walmart has pursued external partnerships and developed its own agentic assistant, Sparky (Digital Commerce 360 - AI). Ecommerce platforms are rapidly adding AI features, and online resale sites are leveraging AI tools to drive growth, signaling that agentic commerce will remain a defining competitive battleground through the 2026 holiday season.