AI Makes the Holiday Shopping List but Who Gets the Sale?

The upcoming holiday shopping seasons are shifting toward 'agentic' commerce, where AI agents do the heavy lifting of product discovery and price comparison. For retailers, this means the point of influence is moving away from the storefront and toward the AI interface. While AI can quickly find the perfect item, the checkout process remains a significant friction point. If your financing options aren't integrated into these automated workflows, you risk losing the sale at the final hurdle. Shoppers are looking for a seamless transition from discovery to payment, and AI will prioritize merchants who offer the least amount of friction. To win in this environment, retailers must ensure their consumer financing programs—like Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and traditional credit—are visible and easy for AI agents to process. If an AI agent sees a complex, multi-step credit application, it may steer the consumer toward a competitor with a 'one-click' financing solution. The goal is to make your payment terms as machine-readable and streamlined as possible. The retailers who succeed will be those who bridge the gap between AI-driven discovery and instant, flexible payment execution.

Source: PYMNTS

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