AI agents are already shopping and most merchants aren't ready, new research finds

Study sponsored by WooCommerce projects AI will replatform $500 billion in digital spending by 2030 — and its first recommendation for commerce leaders is a pointed one: "choose openness over convenience"

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A new IDC InfoBrief sponsored by WooCommerce, Build for What's Next: Open-Source Architecture and the Future of AI Commerce, examines how AI agents that shop on behalf of buyers are reshaping how brands get discovered, and why most commerce platforms are not prepared for this impending discovery shift. IDC projects AI will replatform $500 billion in digital spending by 2030, with agent use among Global 2000 companies growing 10x by 2027. Brands that aren't ready stand to lose access to 25% of their market.

Every store now has a second kind of buyer. AI agents don't browse, don't respond to design, and won't recommend a brand they can't verify — they evaluate structured product data, live inventory, and accurate pricing.

"Every commerce journey is moving towards having a second buyer — AI agents that evaluate what they can read and verify are augmenting digital discovery. When selecting technologies to support agentic commerce, choose openness over convenience," said Heather Hershey, Senior Research Director, Digital and Agentic Commerce Strategies at IDC.

"Agentic commerce isn't a future trend — it's already deciding which brands get found. Merchants don't need another feature waitlist; they need direct control of their data and their stack," offered Tamara Niesen, Chief Marketing Officer at Woo. "WordPress and WooCommerce were built on that principle, and with Model Context Protocol support from the ground up, they give merchants the widest and most open access to the AI commerce, marketing, and operations platforms now emerging."

The top findings shaping commerce through 2027

• AI agents are already shopping, but today's merchants aren't ready. 40% of agentic automation will enhance capabilities in enterprise applications by 2027, and 45% of organizations will orchestrate AI agents at scale by 2030.
• In the agent economy, data quality is your storefront. 80% of agentic AI use cases will require real-time, contextual, and ubiquitous access to data by 2027 — clean catalogs and live inventory are now discovery infrastructure, not back-office hygiene.
• The SaaS platform model is breaking. 65% of digital leaders cite legacy platform rigidity as a top barrier to scaling AI in commerce, while closed platforms raise fees that penalize growth and gate AI capabilities behind premium tiers.

The study closes with key recommendations for commerce leaders, led by a direct call to "choose openness over convenience": the IDC study advises merchants to audit their stack for lock-in fees, ecosystem restrictions, and AI capabilities gated behind premium tiers — noting the platform that's easiest to start on is rarely the cheapest to grow on, and that the cost of a closed choice compounds every quarter.

Access the full IDC study

• Build for What's Next: Open-Source Architecture and the Future of AI Commerce is available for download at woocommerce.com/agentic-commerce-trends-2026.
• Media can also email [email protected] to obtain a copy of the trend study.

About the research

The InfoBrief was authored by Heather Hershey, Senior Research Director, AI-Enabled Digital Commerce at IDC. It synthesizes IDC FutureScape 2026 predictions across five practice areas, IDC's Worldwide AI and Generative AI Spending Guide, and the AI Maturity Model Benchmark, 2026.

Citation: IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by WooCommerce, Build for What's Next: Open-Source Architecture and the Future of AI Commerce, Doc. #US54662026-IB, July 2026.

About Woo

Woo is the company behind WooCommerce, the open-source ecommerce platform powering more than 4 million online stores. Built on WordPress, WooCommerce offers unlimited extensibility and flexibility for store owners and builders. Woo is a fully distributed company with employees all over the world, dedicated to empowering success for merchants, developers, and anyone else making a living through ecommerce. woocommerce.com

SOURCE WooCommerce