Make AI-Driven Transactions Work For Your Business
Practical steps to help businesses make operational updates.
Chapter 3
Question: How can my business prepare for AI-powered commerce?
This chapter of the Amex Business Playbook for Agentic Commerce includes contributions by Stripe subject matter experts.
Getting recommended by AI is one part of the customer journey. As AI assistants take a larger role in how people search, compare, and shop, businesses will also need to be ready to convert the demand they generate into successful transactions.
New findings from Amex Trendex research uncovered that 88% of U.S. merchants surveyed expect AI agents shopping on behalf of customers to have a moderate (39%) or significant (49%) impact on their business within the next three years.1
Disclosure: Amex Trendex figures are rounded for simplicity and ease of presentation.
The first two chapters in this series explored how AI is changing the way customers discover businesses and how businesses can improve visibility. This chapter focuses on making sure your business is ready when AI sends customers your way.
Welcome to the third chapter in our series on navigating agentic commerce. It’s one example of how American Express is backing businesses with practical insights, tools, and resources to help them prepare for what's next.
Summary: Four actions businesses can take now
Action 1: Map how AI fits into your customer transaction journey
Readiness question:
If an AI assistant directed a customer to my business today, could my systems support the purchase from checkout through fulfillment, returns and service?
"Agentic commerce requires businesses to think across the entire purchase journey— from how your business is found, to how customers pay, through to fulfillment, returns and post-purchase support," says Inderpreet Hundal, Vice President of Agentic Commerce at American Express.
Agentic commerce makes accurate inventory, reliable fulfillment, secure payments, and responsive customer support even more important. Start by identifying where those processes might create friction if an AI assistant helped initiate the purchase.
"Agentic commerce requires businesses to think across the entire purchase journey — from how your business is found, to how customers pay, through to fulfillment, returns and post-purchase support,"
says Inderpreet Hundal, Vice President of Agentic Commerce at American Express
Consider whether your business, and your payment channels and partners who help power the transaction journey can address the following questions. Audit where things are running smoothly and where a purchase could break down and ask:
- Discovery: Can the customer find accurate product descriptions, prices, availability, delivery timing, and policies across channels and platforms?
- Checkout: Can a customer complete the purchase without encountering conflicting information or preventable friction?
- Fulfillment: Does my website consistently and accurately link to my inventory management system, to display when an item is sold out, on a delay, or on pre-order?
- Service: Can your team easily locate the order, answer questions, process a return, or exchange, and resolve a dispute?
- Partners: Which parts of the journey depend on your e-commerce platform, payment provider, logistics provider, or another partner?
Action 2: Make sure your product information and operations are AI-ready
Readiness question:
Are my product information, inventory, fulfillment, and customer-support processes accurate, connected, and reliable?
According to the Amex Trendex, 39% of surveyed merchants rank improving operational efficiency among the top three areas where agentic commerce could have the most positive impact on their current business practices.1
Addressing those concerns does not require businesses to become fully "agent-ready" overnight. "There’s never a moment where you say, "I’m agent-ready or I am not," says Allison Xu, Agentic Payments Product Manager at Stripe. "It’s really a spectrum, and there are always things you can be doing."
As AI becomes more involved in commerce, businesses will need to reliably support the purchase and experience that follows. Businesses can begin by evaluating four areas: product data, payments, fulfillment, and customer relationships.
Product data – can AI understand what I sell?
Accurate pricing, inventory, and product descriptions may help AI tools make better recommendations while reducing customer friction during the purchase journey.
Action to take: Ask several AI tools the kind of questions customers might use to find a product or service like yours. Compare the results with your actual catalog, prices, and inventory.
Try common terms a customer could use such as “down jacket,” “winter jacket,” or “ski jacket,” to see whether the product is understood without relying on one exact term.
Example: A customer asks an AI assistant for a down puffer jacket in their size, priced under $250, and available for delivery this week. If inventory, sizing, pricing or product details are missing or inaccurate, AI tools may overlook an otherwise suitable product.
Payments – can my payment setup support AI-assisted purchases?
Secure, customer-approved payments are fundamental to trusted AI commerce. Many of the changes needed to support AI-assisted purchasing are expected to be handled within the payments ecosystem rather than requiring businesses to rebuild their own checkout experience.
Action to take: Ask whether your payment provider supports emerging AI-assisted transactions, what protections are being developed around customer authentication and purchase intent, and whether any future updates may require action from your business.
Example: A customer uses an AI assistant to buy the puffer jacket with an American Express Card. For eligible transactions, Amex agentic tokens are designed to follow the same format as Card numbers and can move through existing authorization flows. In many cases, businesses may be able to accept these transactions without making changes to their current payment systems.
Fulfillment – can my business fulfill the customer’s request?
As customers ask AI more specific questions, fulfillment details may become part of what they’re searching for. Accurate availability, delivery timing, customer communication, and return terms can help an AI tool determine whether your business can meet the customer’s needs.
Action to take: Choose one product or service and compare the availability, delivery, and return information surfaced through AI-assisted search with what your business can provide. Correct anything that is missing, outdated, or inconsistent.
Example: A customer asks for a puffer jacket in their size that can arrive before a trip next Thursday. If the item is unavailable, on a wait list, or cannot arrive on time, or if the agent is unable to discern those factors, that information may affect whether it is presented as a suitable option. Clear, current information may improve the likelihood that your item is recommended and helps avoid presenting options that cannot be delivered as expected.
Customer relationships – can I recognize and support the customer?
Customers may still expect loyalty benefits and responsive service when a purchase begins through an AI-assisted or third-party channel. What changes is the business may not be able to receive the same customer information and transaction information it receives through its own website or app.
Action to take: Review how your business handles a purchase from a marketplace or other third-party channel. Can your team locate the order? Note where missing customer or transaction information limits the support you can provide.
Example: A loyalty member expects to earn points on the jacket purchase. If an AI assistant helps initiate the transaction, the business still needs to identify the purchase to connect to the customer’s account before it can recognize eligibility and provide expected benefits.
Action 3: Ask your partners how they’re preparing for agentic commerce
Readiness question:
What are my providers doing to support AI-assisted commerce, and what actions will my business need to take?
You don't need to become an expert in agentic commerce. Talk with the providers and platforms you already rely on to understand how they are preparing for AI-assisted shopping and transactions.
As AI becomes more integrated into shopping and payments, businesses will rely on a network of trusted partners, including commerce platforms, logistics providers, payment providers, and fraud technology partners, to help deliver secure, seamless customer experiences.
Each partner plays a role in helping AI-powered transactions work, from securely processing payments and verifying customer identity to sharing inventory information, coordinating fulfillment, and supporting customers after the sale.
What to ask your partners
Businesses need assurance that AI-initiated transactions can be authenticated, authorized, fulfilled, and supported without introducing unnecessary risk.
Many of the solutions will come from partners within your commerce ecosystem, so businesses should understand how those partners are preparing.
Supporting AI-Assisted Commerce - Questions to Ask Your Partners |
|
Partner |
Questions to ask |
Payment Provider
|
How are you preparing to support secure, customer-approved AI-initiated transactions? Will my current payment integration support them, and what changes, if any, should my business be prepared to make? Which responsibilities will fall to my business, and which will the payment provider handle? |
| E-commerce platform | How are you making product data, pricing, policies, inventory, and checkout information available to AI-assisted shopping, and is my business’ information visible today? Which information or system updates will my business need to make, and which will my platform handle? |
| Logistics partners | How are you preparing to support accurate delivery estimates, tracking, returns and customer communications in AI-assisted purchases? What additional information do you need from me? Which adaptations will my business need to make, and which will my logistics partner handle? |
Record each provider’s answer, the action owner, and when you should revisit the conversation. If the provider does not yet have a roadmap, ask how it will communicate future updates.
Action 4: Decide where to participate, then start small
Readiness question:
Where can my business make a focused improvement now to prepare?
Not every AI-assisted commerce opportunity will be right for every business. Before participating in a new experience, understand what it requires and whether it supports your customers and your business goals.
Ask:
- Customer value: Does this experience solve a real customer need or make it easier for customers to discover, evaluate, or buy from us?
- Operational readiness: Can our current product information, inventory, fulfillment, returns, and service processes reliably support the experience?
- Trust and control: Do we understand how customers authorize purchases and how fraud, disputes, errors, and other issues will be handled?
- Provider readiness: Do we know which responsibilities belong to us and which are handled by a third party?
- Business value: Do we have a way to determine whether participation is delivering useful traffic, transactions, customer relationships, or other value?
If important questions remain unanswered, that doesn’t necessarily mean "no." It may mean "not yet."
Focus on one part of the journey
Choose one product category, customer journey, or sales channel rather than trying to address multiple parts of your business at once. Use the reviews in Actions 1 and 2 to identify a manageable starting point.
Define what success looks like, assign an owner, and revisit the results before expanding the work. "If I had to boil it down to three very simple things, it’s step one, learn and observe from how agents are already interacting with your business. Step two, use that to form your strategy on which channels or products to prioritize, and then step three is to test it," says Allison Xu.
How the industry is working toward adaptable solutions
Payments and technology companies are working to make sure that businesses won’t need to rebuild their technology every time a new AI platform emerges.
The industry is already working toward consistent standards that allow businesses to connect with multiple AI assistants and commerce platforms using common approaches to payments, authentication, and data sharing. For businesses, that could mean less integration complexity, lower costs, and an easier path to participate as the ecosystem evolves.
"Fragmentation is the enemy of scale," says Stefan Olofsson, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Amex Global Network & Products. "The goal is to help businesses participate in emerging AI-powered commerce without needing to rebuild the systems and processes they already rely on."
For American Express, helping support interoperable standards is an important part of enabling trusted AI commerce, so businesses can participate across evolving AI ecosystems with minimal tech commitment.
"Fragmentation is the enemy of scale," says Stefan Olofsson, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Amex Global Network & Products. "The goal is to help businesses participate in emerging AI-powered commerce without needing to rebuild the systems and processes they already rely on."
What Amex is Doing to Support
American Express is collaborating across the payments ecosystem – including through industry organizations – to help shape secure, consistent AI-powered commerce.
American Express is also helping enable trusted AI commerce through initiatives such as the Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE™) Developer Kit, designed to support verified AI agents, customer-approved purchase intent, tokenized payment credentials, and interoperable standards. We also made an industry-first announcement that we intend to launch Amex Agent Purchase Protection™ to protect eligible Card Members and Merchants from charges related to errors by registered AI agents (terms and conditions will apply).
The goal is to help businesses and consumers transact with confidence.
What businesses can do now:
Businesses can prepare for agentic commerce by focusing on practical updates to their existing technology and operations:
- Strengthen the systems and provider relationships you already rely on.
- Choose one operational gap to address first.
- Ask providers how their solutions will work across emerging AI platforms and industry standards.
- Understand which updates your business is responsible for.
- Review progress periodically and add new capabilities as customer behavior and provider offerings evolve.
Read the next article in this series: What Businesses Need to Know to Support Trustworthy AI-Assisted Transactions
The bottom line
Converting AI-generated demand into completed transactions depends on the strength of your operations, from accurate product data and secure payments to reliable fulfillment and responsive customer service. Businesses can prepare by strengthening the same fundamentals that support successful e-commerce today. Start by reviewing the full purchase journey, addressing one clear gap, and asking your providers how they are preparing for what comes next.
Frequently asked questions
AI-driven transactions are purchases where an AI assistant helps customers discover products, compare options, assemble carts, or initiate purchases, with varying levels of automation throughout the buying process.
No. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from AI-driven customer acquisition. The key is having reliable operational systems that support secure, efficient transactions regardless of company size.
No. Many businesses will participate in AI commerce by making their products, services, and transaction capabilities accessible to third-party AI assistants and platforms rather than developing proprietary AI agents.
Many of the fundamentals are the same: accurate information, reliable inventory, secure payments, fulfillment, and responsive service. AI-assisted commerce can increase the importance of keeping that information consistent and accessible across the platforms and providers involved in the purchase journey.
Review a recent purchase from discovery through fulfillment and service. Identify where information is inaccurate, delayed, inconsistent, or difficult for customers or employees to access. Choose one gap to address and ask relevant partners what additional capabilities may be needed as agentic commerce evolves.
Additional Chapters
Research Methodology:
1 The Amex Trendex: Agentic Commerce Edition merchant survey was conducted among a sample of 502 business leaders in the U.S. who have responsibility for making decisions regarding customer payment options or online sales/digital strategy and planning. Respondent companies accept online or mobile payments and are not franchisees. The sample for the study came from an online panel. The anonymous survey was conducted online August 10-18, 2026.