Commerce Operations Foundation Launches Order Network eXchange, The New Standard Linking Agentic Commerce and Other Selling Channels to the World of Fulfillment

Vendors and brands representing over $1 trillion in GMV - including Manhattan Associates, IBM Sterling, Pipe17, SPS Commerce, Radial, Ryder, Barrett Distribution, Allbirds, Ipsy, commercetools, and Commerce plus 62 other vendors and brands - unite to create a faster, smarter, and more connected flow of orders for the agentic commerce era.

SEATTLE, Nov. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders across commerce and fulfillment today announced the formation of the Commerce Operations Foundation and the release of its first specification, the Order Network eXchange (onX). Built as the first open standard unifying how commerce systems communicate - from AI-powered selling channels through payments, logistics, and fulfillment - onX addresses a critical missing layer in the agentic commerce stack.

Recent efforts such as OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) and Google's Agent Payments (AP2) have defined how AI captures intent and processes payment. Yet these advances stop short of ensuring that the resulting orders can move intelligently through the complex web of fulfillment partners, warehouses, and systems that bring them products to consumers' doorsteps. The Commerce Operations Foundation was established to bridge this gap - creating the operational backbone that allows commerce to flow as seamlessly as the AI agents that now initiate it.

The Commerce Operations Foundation is a nonprofit standards organization founded by leaders across technology, logistics, retail, and commerce infrastructure, including Manhattan Associates, IBM Sterling, SPS Commerce, Radial, Ryder, Barrett, Allbirds, Ipsy, commercetools, Commerce (BigCommerce & Feedonomics) and Pipe17, and others totaling 62 backing vendors and brands. Together, these members represent a broad cross-section of the global commerce ecosystem, powering more than a trillion dollars in annual gross merchandise value.

"AI has made buying effortless. Now we need to make fulfillment intelligent," said Kelly Goetsch, Founding President of the Commerce Operations Foundation and President of Pipe17. "Our goal is to build commerce infrastructure that's as adaptive and connected as the AI shaping demand. The onX standard gives the industry a common operational language so orders can move with precision, transparency, and at the speed of AI."

Reimagining the Backbone of Commerce

Commerce has reached a turning point. Orders now originate from everywhere, including marketplaces, social platforms, and AI-powered assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Yet the infrastructure behind those orders still relies on brittle, point-to-point integrations built for a store-centric era. Most selling channels can't access real-time inventory data or send accurate updates back to fulfillment systems. It's easy to take orders, but much harder to fulfill them efficiently.

onX changes that by introducing a consistent, extensible interface based on the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Every system – from ERPs and OMSs to 3PLs and AI agents – can use this shared model to capture, fulfill, and reconcile orders in real time. With onX, brands and vendors gain a consistent way to exchange key order events – capture, ship, return – and synchronize resources like inventory and shipment data across platforms. Just as USB-C standardized physical connectivity, onX standardizes the digital connections between commerce systems, creating the same plug-and-play reliability that AI and automation already expect.

"A unified agentic AI standard gives commerce systems a shared language. By aligning how we express order actions and inventory availability, we can create a frictionless, composable network across OMS, WMS, carriers, and last-mile providers." - Sudhir Balebail, Program Director, Product Management OMS, IBM.

"AI is transforming how orders start, but fulfillment is what delivers on that promise," said Tom Schmitt, CEO of Radial. "Through the nonprofit Commerce Operations Foundation, we're ensuring 3PLs, retailers, and brands can all connect on equal footing, with onX, the open industry standard that makes commerce more accessible and resilient."

Commerce That Works Together

The world's most complex systems already run on open standards: finance has SWIFT and ACH; identity has OAuth and SAML; and retail has the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) standard. But nothing yet exists between selling channels that capture orders and fulfillment channels that fulfil orders.

onX brings that same cooperative model to commerce, ensuring that every system can communicate through a single, openly governed standard rather than proprietary integrations.

Sanjeev Siotia, CTO at Manhattan Associates, noted, "By aligning merchants, logistics providers, and fulfillment leaders around a shared framework, onX helps commerce move faster, smarter, and with greater confidence."

This cooperative approach is what makes the initiative unique. Goetsch added, "The Foundation was designed to be neutral by nature. No single vendor can dominate the flow of commerce. It's an open standard built for everyone who touches an order."

"As AI transforms how orders originate, open standards like onX ensure that fulfillment can keep pace," said Sharon Gee, SVP of Product for AI at Commerce (BigCommerce & Feedonomics). "At Commerce, we've always believed that interoperability is the foundation of innovation, and onX brings that vision to life. By connecting selling channels, data systems, and fulfillment partners through a shared language, we're helping merchants move from isolated transactions to truly intelligent commerce. Feedonomics already powers discoverability and data accuracy upstream; with onX, we're extending that same precision downstream into fulfillment."

Availability and Participation

The onX specification and open reference implementation are publicly available beginning today, November 18, coinciding with the Foundation's official launch event. Organizations interested in joining as Founding Members or Friends of the Foundation can learn more at commerceopsfoundation.org.

About the Commerce Operations Foundation
The Commerce Operations Foundation is a vendor-neutral, nonprofit organization dedicated to unifying commerce operations through open standards. Its first specification, onX (Order Network eXchange), establishes a common framework for how orders, inventory, and fulfillment data move across systems. Learn more at commerceopsfoundation.org.

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SOURCE Commerce Operations Foundation