How businesses win when AI does the shopping

The rise of AI-powered shopping is the biggest change in digital commerce since mobile, and it changes who you're selling to. Suddenly, nearly every sale has a third party in the middle—an AI assistant or agent—and they don't shop like people.

Where human shoppers respond to imagery and brand storytelling, AI assistants and agents run on structured data and facts, whether an assistant is recommending what to buy or an agent is completing the purchase on the shopper's behalf. It's a shift Microsoft has been building for, offering businesses the tools to help you get discovered, be chosen, and understand what's working.

AI is already the fastest-growing retail channel

Last holiday season, AI was the fastest-growing source of retail traffic, up 693% year over year, faster than any established channel.¹ And it wasn't just traffic: AI and AI agents influenced 20% of all retail sales globally over the holiday window, roughly $262 billion.¹

This holiday season, even more shoppers will start their journey with an AI assistant. Instead of navigating across a dozen tabs, they can simply describe who they're shopping for. Think: "A gift under $50 for my niece who's into art." From there, the assistant does the legwork. It weighs the options, narrows the consideration set, and hands back a short list. As a result, the decision of what to buy can start forming before a shopper ever reaches your site.

Consumer demands are rising just as fast: 72% of consumers expect AI-assisted shopping experiences from retailers within the next year.² What began as emerging behavior is becoming the new baseline. Better still, AI-referred visitors arrive ready to buy, converting 42% better than non-AI traffic.³

Your product data is now your most valuable marketing asset

Having complete and structured product data is your new advantage. Most product feeds were built for advertising: sharing a subset of your catalog for campaigns. AI needs your complete catalog, structured so it can understand and recommend every product you sell.

But agents don't give partial credit. If your data is incomplete or out of date, you're not just lower in the results; you might eliminate yourself from the recommendation entirely. The brands winning inside the conversation are the ones AI can access, understand and confidently recommend.

Prepare for the age of AI shopping

With all this change, it’s hard to know where to start. We built a playbook to address exactly that: Prepare for the Age of AI Shopping. It’s a practical guide to getting ready in the new age of agentic commerce.

You don’t need to rebuild your marketing playbook. Readiness is extending your foundation for agentic commerce and comes down to three things.

• First, get discovered: Before AI can recommend you, it has to find and understand you. This starts with an AI-ready product feed in Microsoft Merchant Center, so agents can identify and trust what you sell.
• Then, get chosen: Meet shoppers at the moment of decision with AI-native ads across Bing and Copilot, let them buy without leaving the conversation through Copilot Checkout, and give every customer a personal shopper with a Brand Agent on your site that’s customized to your brand voice and products.
• Finally, understand what's working: AI Visibility insights in Microsoft Clarity show you which AI platforms cite you, which grounding queries and topics they associate your brand with, how you compare to competitors, and what AI-referred shoppers do after the click. Use these insights to take your generative engine optimization (GEO) strategy to the next level.

Every action comes with step-by-step guidance and a 90-day activation roadmap, so you can put it in place before the holidays, regardless of your level of AI experience.

Be the brand in AI's recommendations this holiday season by getting ready.

Download your 90-day plan: Prepare for the Age of AI Shopping