Agentic commerce — an innovative idea that AI systems and tools can not only recommend you the best products but also take real purchasing action on behalf of consumers, is moving rapidly from concept to execution. Among large global retailers, Target has emerged as one of the most visible and proactive adopters of this agentic commerce model, experimenting with AI-driven shopping experiences that allow customers to discover, evaluate, and purchase products directly through intelligent agents.
At its core, agentic commerce shifts the shopping journey away from traditional web or app navigation toward conversational, intent-based interactions, where AI agents interpret user needs and complete transactions autonomously. Target’s recent initiatives show how this shift is beginning to reshape retail infrastructure and consumer expectations.
From Discovery to Checkout Inside AI Interfaces
One of Target’s most significant steps into agentic commerce is its collaboration with Google to enable direct shopping within AI-powered environments, such as Google Search’s AI Mode and the Gemini app. Through this integration, users can ask an AI assistant for product suggestions, compare options, and complete purchases of Target items without being redirected to a conventional e-commerce site.
This approach reduces friction across the funnel. Rather than browsing multiple pages, adding items manually, and navigating checkout forms, the AI agent handles these steps in a single conversational flow. For consumers, the experience feels closer to delegating a task to an assistant (“find and buy what I need”) than navigating a digital storefront.
Building the Infrastructure: Universal Commerce Protocol
Behind the scenes, Target’s agentic commerce strategy relies heavily on open technical standards. The retailer is a co-developer of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an emerging framework designed to give AI agents and merchant systems a shared language for commerce-related actions.
UCP enables AI systems to understand product catalogs, pricing, availability, checkout rules, and fulfillment options in a standardized way. This is critical for agentic commerce at scale. Without common e-commerce and payment protocols, AI agents would need bespoke integrations for each retailer, limiting reach and increasing complexity. By helping shape UCP, Target is positioning itself not just as a user of agentic commerce but as a significant contributor to the ecosystem that will define how AI-driven transactions work across platforms.
More than 20 companies across retail, technology, and payments have endorsed or participated in UCP-related initiatives, suggesting growing momentum behind protocol-based agentic commerce.
Conversational, Curated Shopping Experiences
Target has also experimented with conversational AI shopping experiences inside large language model interfaces, where AI assistants curate themed product collections, suggest complementary items, and support multi-item baskets in a single interaction. Unlike traditional chatbots that answer questions, these systems act more like shopping concierges assembling complete baskets based on context, preferences, and constraints.
Importantly, these experiences extend beyond non-perishable goods into categories such as groceries and household essentials, where repeat purchases and convenience are critical. This signals a move toward habitual agent-led purchasing, not just novelty use cases.
Why Agentic Commerce Matters for Retailers
For retailers like Target, agentic commerce offers several strategic advantages. First, it aligns with changing consumer behavior, particularly among digitally native shoppers who increasingly expect services to adapt to them rather than the other way around. Second, it allows retailers to meet customers “where they are”: inside search engines, AI assistants, or messaging interfaces, rather than relying solely on owned apps or websites.
There is also a defensive dimension. As AI platforms become powerful intermediaries, retailers risk losing direct relationships with customers. By actively participating in agentic commerce standards and integrations, Target is working to ensure its products, pricing, and brand context are accurately represented when AI agents act on consumers’ behalf.
Implications for Payments and the Wider Ecosystem
Agentic commerce also has implications for payments. Autonomous checkout requires seamless, embedded payment capabilities that can operate within AI flows, often without explicit user interaction at the final step. This puts pressure on payment providers to support tokenization, delegated authorization, and real-time decisioning compatible with AI agents.
For the wider retail industry, Target’s initiatives serve as a practical example of how agentic commerce can be implemented by a large, mainstream retailer, not just digital-first startups. The experiments suggest that agentic commerce is evolving from a futuristic concept into a viable omnichannel that complements individual shopping through apps, websites, and physical stores.
Looking Ahead
While agentic commerce is still in its early stages, Target’s investments indicate where the market is heading. As standards mature and consumer trust grows, AI agents are likely to take on a larger role in everyday purchasing decisions. Target’s early involvement gives it a strategic foothold in shaping how that future unfolds both for retail and for the broader commerce ecosystem.
