AI Shopping Grew 13x: Agentic Commerce and Ecommerce Trends for 2027
Orders placed by AI agents grew almost 13x. Learn what agentic commerce means for your online store and the 5 ecommerce trends to watch through 2027.
Imagine a customer who never visits your website. They ask an artificial intelligence assistant to “find me running shoes under R$ 400 (Brazilian reais), delivered by Friday”, and the assistant searches, compares and completes the purchase for them. This is already happening, and faster than most store owners realize. Welcome to agentic commerce.
According to Shopify data released in September, orders placed by AI agents on the platform grew almost 13x in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, and traffic coming from chatbots rose more than 8x (Economic News Brasil). In Brazil, a Visa survey of one thousand consumers found that 76% are willing to use AI agents to shop.
In this article, you will learn what this shift, known as agentic commerce, really is, and the key ecommerce trends your store needs to follow through 2027.
What is agentic commerce (and agentic checkout)?
Agentic commerce is when an artificial intelligence agent makes a purchase on the consumer’s behalf. The person defines what they want and the limits (price, delivery time, brand), and the AI searches, chooses and pays. The final step, where the agent itself completes the payment, is called agentic checkout.
Over the past few months, big tech companies have built the “rails” to make this work:
| Protocol | Created by | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) | OpenAI and Stripe | Purchases started by agents inside ChatGPT |
| UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) | An open standard that lets any agent read a catalog and complete payments | |
| AP2 | Secure authorization of payments made by AI |
One important detail: in March 2026, OpenAI scaled back its bet on checkout inside ChatGPT itself and began prioritizing purchases completed in retailers’ own apps and environments (Retail Media News). In practice, that is good news for merchants: the sale still goes through your store, but more and more often, whoever arrives there is an AI agent.
Why this news matters for your store
Until now, the ecommerce game was about convincing people: a beautiful photo, a catchy title, a creative ad. With agentic commerce, you also need to convince machines. And machines read differently:
- They value complete, well-organized data, not catchy slogans;
- They compare price, stock, delivery time and return policy in seconds;
- They use customer reviews as a selection criterion;
- They discard products with incomplete or outdated information.
A store with a messy catalog may simply not show up as an option when the agent is choosing where to buy. According to the E-Consumidor 2026 survey, cited by Nuvemshop, 36.6% of online consumers in Brazil have already used AI agents to shop.
5 ecommerce trends to watch through 2027
The market keeps growing: ABIACOMM, the Brazilian ecommerce association, projects that Brazilian ecommerce will reach R$ 258.4 billion in revenue in 2026 (Brasil em Folhas). But growing with the market requires paying attention to these five trends.
1. An AI-ready product catalog
Your product catalog is the new SEO. Clear titles, complete descriptions, technical specifications, up-to-date price and stock, and clear shipping and return policies are what allow AI agents (and Google too) to understand and recommend your products.
What to do now: review your 20 best-selling products and fill in every field: dimensions, material, compatibility, variants, delivery time and warranty.
2. Fast delivery as a deciding factor
A Capterra survey shows that 73% of consumers expect ultra-fast delivery and 25% would switch stores for a shorter delivery time. For AI agents, which compare delivery times automatically, this matters even more.
What to do now: show the delivery time on the product page, offer pickup or local delivery when possible, and keep your stock information accurate.
3. WhatsApp and conversational customer service
Brazilian shoppers want to talk before they buy. According to Nuvemshop, 60% prefer WhatsApp to talk to brands before making a purchase. Fast support, a WhatsApp catalog and well-crafted automated replies have become part of the sales funnel.
What to do now: set up ready-made replies for the most common questions and define a maximum response time, especially around dates like Black Friday 2026.
4. Brazil’s tax reform and the end of the “30-day cash cushion”
2026 is the test year for Brazil’s tax reform, with a symbolic 1% rate (0.9% CBS and 0.1% IBS, the new consumption taxes) offset against PIS/Cofins, the federal taxes being replaced. In 2027, PIS and Cofins end and CBS takes full effect. With split payment, the tax will tend to be separated automatically at the moment the customer pays, which shrinks the cash cushion of businesses that used to pay the tax only the following month (E-commerce Puro).
What to do now: talk to your accountant, review margins and prices for 2027, and favor suppliers that issue proper tax invoices, because tax credits will depend on it.
5. AI-driven (and more expensive) ads
Ad platforms are becoming more and more automated. Google Ads began migrating campaigns to AI Max in September, and advertising on Meta became more expensive in Brazil after taxes started being passed on to advertisers in January. If you don’t monitor closely, you let the AI decide on its own where your money goes.
What to do now: review search terms, landing pages and the return of every campaign. If you are just starting out, our guide to paid ads for small businesses shows you the way.
The risks still being worked out
Agentic commerce still has open questions. Banks such as Bank of America, Capital One and ING are already calling for rules to identify transactions made by AI, protect data and define who is liable when an agent makes an unauthorized purchase. And even with high interest, only 46% of Brazilians say they would trust an AI platform with their payment details, according to the Visa survey.
In other words: the change is real, but it is just beginning. It is the ideal moment to prepare calmly and without big investments, starting by organizing what you already have.
Checklist: is your store ready for the new ecommerce trends?
- Products with clear titles and complete descriptions
- Price and stock always up to date
- Delivery time visible on the product page
- Clear exchange and return policies
- Customer reviews being collected
- WhatsApp with fast replies and ready-made messages
- Your accountant aligned on Brazil’s 2027 tax reform
- Ad campaigns closely monitored, with return targets
Conclusion
The news that AI-driven purchases grew 13x does not mean your customer is going to disappear. It means they will arrive through new paths. The stores that will grow in the coming years are the ones that organize their data, deliver fast, provide great service on WhatsApp and invest in ads with a strategy, not on autopilot.
At uGrowing, we help small and mid-sized businesses grow with personalized paid ads management, direct communication and reports you can actually understand. And every client who grows with us also helps change other lives: we donate 5% of our revenue to social causes.
Want to find out what your store needs to adjust to sell more in 2027? Book a free assessment and we will map out the next steps together. Let’s grow together!
Frequently asked questions
What is agentic commerce?
It is a shopping model in which an artificial intelligence agent searches, chooses and completes the purchase on the consumer’s behalf, within limits they have set, such as price, delivery time and brand.
What is agentic checkout?
It is the step in which the AI agent itself completes the payment for the purchase. Protocols such as ACP (OpenAI and Stripe) and UCP (Google) were created to make this possible securely.
What are the top ecommerce trends for 2027?
Purchases made by AI agents, catalogs optimized for machines, ever-faster delivery, customer service on WhatsApp, the changes from Brazil’s tax reform with the start of CBS, and ads increasingly automated by AI.
Do small stores need to worry about AI shopping?
Yes, but there is no need to panic. The first step is inexpensive: organize your catalog, keep price and stock up to date, and make your shipping and return policies clear. That alone improves your store for customers, for Google and for AI agents.
What changes for ecommerce with Brazil’s tax reform in 2027?
In 2027, PIS and Cofins are abolished and CBS takes effect. With split payment, the tax will tend to be collected at the moment of payment, which affects cash flow. It is worth reviewing prices and margins with your accountant.
