If you’re not sure what “agentic commerce” even means, you’re not behind, and that gap is exactly why adoption is slow.

Let me start by explaining the term, because many smart people still don’t know what the heck it is, or why they ought to care.

Agentic commerce means software agents that don’t stop at recommending products, but can actually buy them.

They compare options, place orders, and complete transactions on your behalf, across retailers, without you clicking “add to cart.”

That future is being actively built.

A new Universal Commerce Protocol, backed by companies like Google, Shopify, Target, Etsy and Walmart, is designed to make this possible.

And yet uptake is limited, for now.

Most consumers don’t yet understand how to set up an agent in a useful way, or what guardrails exist.

If you don’t understand how a system decides, you don’t let it spend money for you.

When I make a purchase, I consider tangibles and intangibles.

I weigh readiness to pay, perceived value, the condition of the thing I’m replacing, future consequences.

I still can’t imagine AI to effectively consider all the tangibles, much less the factors it doesn’t know exist.

That creates a gap product makers should pay attention to. The mismatch between human justification logic and machine decision logic.

It’s one that’s closing.

Humans are still making the final call, but machines are increasingly shaping what gets seen, compared, and shortlisted.

Products now have to perform for two audiences at once.

Humans need reassurance. Machines need structure.

Clear attributes, clean data, honest availability, and unambiguous claims are becoming influence signals, beyond back-end hygiene.

One day, a buyer may never click anything. But they will still really care whether the outcome feels good when it arrives.

How top-of-mind is agentic commerce for you? Hit reply and tell me. I really want to know!

Want to make your product irresistible? That’s what we do as product marketing consultants at Graphos Product, helping innovators turn need-driven ideas into market-ready successes.