Are brands and retailers ready for agents?
Not yet, but we are here to help!
We asked around 100 retailers and brands how well they understand agentic commerce, and how prepared they are for it. The first responses are in. Even at this early stage, the results line up almost too neatly.
1. Reach is the number one pain. Every respondent named weak reach and engagement as a top frustration. About two thirds flagged rising ad costs as well.
2. Paid marketing has stopped paying off. Not one respondent said their paid marketing works better than a year ago. About a third have cut it right back or stopped.
3. They know exactly what they want. More than 4 in 5 said the fix they want most is to reach buyers who are genuinely ready to purchase, not just browsers.
4. The AI shift is here, but mostly unnoticed. About a third are already seeing AI assistants change their traffic or sales. The other two thirds have not noticed it yet.
5. Almost nobody is ready for agent-led buying. Asked how prepared they are for a customer’s AI agent to do the buying instead of browsing the site, half said they are not ready or did not even understand the question.
The real line: brands are paying more for less, they want qualified buyers rather than clicks, and the move to AI agents doing the buying is arriving faster than they are getting ready for it.
getvia.xyz
