“Find and buy a pair of asphalt running shoes. I have wide feet, I run 30 km a week, I have a budget of 150 euros and I need them by Friday.” This is the command the customer gives to their AI agent, who in a few seconds dialogues with dozens of e-commerce sites, reads thousands of reviews written by other users with wide feet to discard models that are too narrow, optimizes the purchase by communicating directly with sellers’ systems, finds the lowest price and verifies real stock availability to guarantee delivery by Friday, automatically searches for customer’s credit card coupons or active discount codes on the web. Once the perfect match is found, the agent concludes the deal. Then it uses encrypted payment data (e.g., a secure bank token) to pay while the customer receives a notification on their phone: I bought Brand X shoes for 129 euros, saving 21 euros on your budget, and they are on their way. Here is the receipt. This is not science fiction but it is the facsimile of the first test transaction with agentic commerce made in our country where artificial intelligence is not limited to recommending a product but buys it.
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A new phase for e-commerce
A decisive step that marks the entry of AI into a new phase of e-commerce, where intelligent agents select products, compare offers, and pay on behalf of the consumer, based on received authorizations. The test bears the signature of Nexi, which had already signed a partnership with Google Cloud in March specifically on agentic commerce. Nexi (approximately 3 million POS terminals, 141 million cards in Europe, and 250 banks and corporates supported with its services) has invested approximately 500 million euros per year in technology in recent years, the highest figure in Europe in the payments market. “Agentic commerce is not a new sales channel, but an evolution of the purchasing process,” explains Filippo Maria Signoretti, merchant solutions Director at Nexi Italia. “Artificial intelligence becomes an entity that operates on behalf of the consumer, and our task is to ensure that this happens effectively, securely, transparently, and in compliance with European rules.” According to Nexi’s Payment Report, the Italian market is already receptive to this innovation: almost half of consumers have used AI tools in the last 28 days for purchases; 48% have already bought based on a recommendation received from an intelligent assistant, and almost six out of ten Italians would use a secure payment button integrated into the conversation with AI, without having to access the merchant’s website. “For businesses, technology and the way of competing are changing,” Signoretti continues. “The future challenge will no longer be just about being visible on search engines, but also about being chosen by intelligent agents who will assist consumers.” According to Nexi, in the next 12-24 months, AI will move from initial experiments to concrete use cases and even to managing after-sales services, refunds, and customer assistance. The decisive issue remains trust: an agentic payment requires verification of the agent’s identity, user consent, and transaction authorization within the European regulatory framework, from PSD2 to GDPR up to the AI Act.
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