Shoppers Would Send AI Agents to Marketplaces Over Brand Sites

AI shopping agents are coming, and they will change how your customers find and pay for products. New data shows that when consumers use AI assistants to shop, they overwhelmingly prefer large marketplaces like Amazon over individual brand websites. This is true even if the price, shipping, and return policies are identical. For retailers, this means the battle for the customer starts long before they reach your checkout page. The rise of autonomous shopping agents means your financing options must be visible and integrated where these agents ‘crawl.’ If an AI agent is comparing total cost of ownership, it will look at your interest rates, monthly payment options, and BNPL availability. Retailers who don't have clear, machine-readable financing terms may find themselves invisible to these AI buyers. You need to ensure your lender programs are competitive enough to stand out when an algorithm is doing the math for the consumer. As shoppers move toward marketplaces, merchant-branded financing may lose its edge unless it offers a clear, data-driven advantage that an AI can easily identify.

Source: PYMNTS

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