E-commerce Awaits Autonomous Agents

The European Financial Congress in Sopot hosted a debate on the future of e-commerce, focusing on the rise of autonomous agents and the transformation of the shopping experience. Participants discussed how e-commerce is shifting from a mere sales channel to a comprehensive ecosystem driven by algorithmic decision-making.

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We live in an era of autonomous shopping, and e-commerce has ceased to be solely a sales channel and is becoming an entire ecosystem of decisions made, including by algorithms. What is your perspective on e-commerce with agents in the background?

Marta Życińska, CEO of Mastercard Europe's Polish branch, emphasized that while AI implementation is becoming standard, the true differentiator will be the ability to build customer trust around these technologies. She noted that companies failing to ensure the security of customer data and the purchasing process will ultimately lose out.

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E-commerce is indeed becoming an ecosystem. This is inevitable. It seems to me that it will not be won by those who implement AI, because today, probably few entities can afford not to do so. However, those who build trust around AI will win.

Joanna Erdman, president of the Polska Bezgotówkowa Foundation, highlighted the particular challenges micro-entrepreneurs will face with AI adoption. While large corporations are already developing AI solutions, smaller businesses will need to rely on platforms offering AI tools or invest in developing their own. The foundation aims to support these businesses through education and by providing secure, trusted tools to enhance user experience and conversion rates.

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Speaking of purchasing agents, we usually think of large companies. They are already working on these solutions. However, in principle, every store should prepare for this challenge.

Mateusz Oleksy, CEO of Visa in Poland, predicted a rapid AI revolution in e-commerce, contingent on both business adoption and consumer trust. He mentioned that Visa is working to build this trust by integrating familiar security measures like tokenization into agent-based commerce. Jakub Kachlicki of Allegro Pay views the current AI integration as an early stage of a steep adoption curve, suggesting that the future landscape of e-commerce will be significantly shaped by these emerging technologies.

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Indeed, we have an upward trend of modern technologies that are increasingly widely used. However, I look at it as a new technology that is in the initial stage of implementation.