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Hello,
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I'm Mung Ki Woo,
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Chief Digital and Innovation Officer
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for Financial Services at Sopra Steria.
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I am here today with Laurence Niclosse,
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Partner for Customer Excellence at Sopra Steria.
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We want to present some of the key
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findings from a report we have just
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completed on agentic commerce in Europe.
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For this report, we worked with a
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specialist company, Cluster17, to survey
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more than 8,400 consumers
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across eight European countries.
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So what do we mean by agentic commerce?
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Well, in short, it's when a consumer uses
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an AI agent such as Chatgpt, Claude or
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Gemini, not just to get advice, but to
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actually make an
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e-commerce purchase on their behalf.
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Today, consumers already use AI agents to
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help them choose
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products or find the best deals.
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Tomorrow, they will go one step further
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and use agents to take care of
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the entire purchase for them.
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This is not just a question of a better chatbot.
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It is an entirely new
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intermediary in the value chain.
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So, Laurence, let's start with what
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consumers are telling us about their
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current e-commerce habits.
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Yes, thanks Mung Ki.
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The first thing we see
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is just how widespread
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e-commerce has now become.
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Only 2% of people in our survey say that
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they never buy online.
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The second interesting data point is that
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55% of consumers say they are already
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aware of the agentic commerce concept.
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Next, we found consumers reported
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friction points when shopping online.
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For example, 46% of people said it takes
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too long to find the right product.
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44% struggled to compare different offers.
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And 19% are frustrated at the time spent
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just finding out which
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retailer to buy from.
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So, there is clearly friction in the process.
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Friction agentic commerce could help reduce.
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Mung Ki, how interested are consumers in
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actually using agentic commerce?
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Well, overall, interest is quite high.
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Although, this varies on the type of
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product being bought.
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45% of respondents are happy to delegate
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electronics purchases to an AI agent.
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But that drops to only 16% for groceries
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and health-related products.
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And only 22% say they are ready to
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delegate purchases in financial services.
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So, what is happening here?
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Well, consumers are more
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comfortable using AI agents
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for standardized or low-risk purchases.
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But when it comes to personal or
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sensitive decisions,
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they are more hesitant, at least for now.
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One result that is
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really striking is that 94% of
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consumers want to approve every single
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transaction before it goes through.
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So, Europeans today are not looking for a
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robot to shop for them on their behalf.
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What they want is an assistant that does
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the hard work, meaning searching,
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comparing and shortlisting, and then lets
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the consumer make the final call.
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Another fascinating point concerns
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regional nuances.
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Overall,
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we have found that Europeans
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are basically saying the same thing.
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But northern European countries
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like Norway and the Netherlands
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are more enthusiastic, while southern
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European countries like
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France, Spain, Italy are more cautious
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Laurence, what will it take for
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consumers to really adopt
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agentic commerce at scale?
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Well, it comes down to just one word,
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trust.
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Consumers are very
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clear on what they need to
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feel comfortable.
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First, transparency.
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They want to be sure that the
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agent will really act in their interest.
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76% of respondents say they
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want full transparency on
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the product selection criteria.
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Second, control.
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64% want easy
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cancellation or returns.
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Basically,
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consumer want to be protected
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if there is a mistake.
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And third,
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privacy.
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55% have concerns
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about how the data will be used.
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So if companies want adoption,
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they will need to address these concerns.
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Mung Ki let's move to another topic.
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Can we talk about
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Sure.
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Consumers are already using AI to help
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them choose the right
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products and services.
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Roughly half of consumers already do this,
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according to multiple studies.
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Based on the
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level of interest we have seen in our
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surveys, we estimate that within
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10 years, around €310 billion in e-commerce transactions
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could be impacted by agentic commerce.
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And if agentic commerce
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follows a trajectory similar to social commerce,
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we could see between €62 and €77 billion
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of transactions impacted within just three years.
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Looking ahead, there are four types of players
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which could become AI purchasing agents.
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First, the big tech
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players, such as OpenAI or Google.
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Second, retailers themselves.
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Third,
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financial services
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players, in particular banks
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which already integrate offers and promotions
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into their mobile apps.
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One can easily imagine how
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these banks could take it one step further.
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And finally,
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specialised vertical players,
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such as travel specialists.
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Time will
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tell what market share will
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be captured by each type of player.
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When we asked consumers who they
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would trust to provide these AI agents,
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banks came out on top with 27% of respondents.
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14% prefer a European technology company,
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and only 6% a major retailer.
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Interestingly, 43% are still undecided,
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meaning that the market is wide open.
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One last thing to note is that
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agentic commerce is going to
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create new technical functions
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in the value chain.
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First, retailers will
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have to verify the
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identity of the agents making the
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transactions.
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And second, both retailers
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and banks will also need
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to check that transactions
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actually reflect the user's original
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intent.
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There are
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already several protocols being
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developed to address this, but they are
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developed to address this, but they are
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likely to evolve. Laurence,
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Laurence,
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in the view of all of this,
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what should companies actually be doing
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right now?
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There are
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some concrete steps to take.
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For retailers, the immediate risk is what
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we call silent disintermediation.
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If consumers rely on agents,
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they stop visiting websites,
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stop browsing catalogues,
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and stop seeing promotion.
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The retailer's brand becomes invisible.
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The AI agents' algorithm
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will decide whether it will
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be selected or ignored.
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So, the urgent
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action is to develop a strong
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strategy for GEO,
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Generative Engine Optimisation
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In other words, make
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sure your products are
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correctly interpreted and
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recommended by the AI agents.
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This is digital marketing in the agentic era.
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For banks,
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the opportunity is different. They can
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move higher in the value chain
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to become the agent provider,
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not just the invisible payment player in
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the background. The agent
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can help manage spending,
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find better deals, all directly from
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within the banking app.
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Retailers and banks both need to
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ensure they don't treat agentic commerce
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as a technology silo. It cuts across
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strategy, marketing,
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payments, IT, and compliance.
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And don't wait for standards to be finalised.
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Get involved in defining them.
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Mung Ki, back to you.
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Thanks Laurence.
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If I had to give you three key
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takeaways to remember
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from this report, they would be, one,
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agentic commerce is likely
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to be big and to be adopted
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quickly by consumers. Two, it will
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profoundly change the way
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e-commerce works. And three,
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the time to act is now to make sure you
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are part of shaping what comes next.
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Thank you so much for
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watching. And if you want to know more,
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please download our full report.
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Thank you Laurence. And goodbye.