Internet/e-Commerce: Latest on Agentic Commerce vs Traditional eCommerce; Etsy enters ChatGPT

Research evidence excerpt

Internet/e-Commerce: Latest on Agentic Commerce vs Traditional eCommerce; Etsy enters ChatGPT

Accessible version

Internet/e-Commerce

Latest on Agentic Commerce vs Traditional

eCommerce; Etsy enters ChatGPT

Industry Overview

Product Links becoming a key use case for AI discovery 20 May 2026

Per eMarketer & PYMNTS’ AI On-Ramp report, approx. 31% of US users rely on AI to find Equity

product links, making product-link search one of the higher-usage AI behaviors across United States

cohorts. Per the report, lower funnel purchase intent is more nascent, but asking LLMs to Michael McGovern

find product links is low-risk & increasingly mainstream as more shopping journeys start Research Analyst

inside chatbots. Research and Markets also cited ~62% of AI users relying on AI product BofAS+1 415 676 3520

comparison features. Separately, survey data from Radial suggests that while 58% of mmcgovern@bofa.com

consumers are “open” to placing orders through an AI assistant, only 6% have actually fully

placed an order through an LLM so far, underscoring the big gap between upper & lower

funnel activity at this point. Recent data points underscore our view that agentic &

traditional eCommerce likely evolve into a hybrid model, as AI adds to the discovery

process, but doesn’t displace loyalty/trust, & unique catalogue/inventory.

Shopify notes AI-Referred shoppers convert 50% higher

A recent Shopify Enterprise report noted that AI-referred shoppers across its sites

converted at nearly 50% higher rates, with 14% higher AOV than organic search. In 1Q,

SHOP saw AI-referred orders grow nearly 13x y/y. Agentic Commerce magnitude is still

small, but increasingly measurable, and early data suggests AI traffic may be higher-

intent than traditional organic search.