When AI agents start shopping for us, retail’s identity stack needs a rewrite (www.techradar.com)

The retail industry is undergoing a transformative shift as AI agents increasingly participate in shopping processes. Currently, 30-45% of U.S. consumers utilize generative AI for product research, and this reliance is expected to extend to checkout, potentially contributing between $190 billion and $385 billion to U.S. eCommerce spending by 2030. As these AI agents emerge as a distinct customer class, traditional retail platforms must adapt to accommodate their automated nature while ensuring accurate transaction verification, to avoid misclassifying genuine activity as fraudulent. To successfully navigate this shift, retailers need to overhaul their identity and risk management systems, moving beyond outdated assumptions that equate machine interactions with bot traffic. This includes developing infrastructures that can authenticate the AI agents initiating transactions, distinguishing between authorized and malicious automation, and enhancing the overall trust framework. As eCommerce evolves into an agent-friendly environment, retailers that proactively address these challenges will enhance their capacity to support machine-led transactions, reduce fraud, and ultimately capture a burgeoning market segment driven by AI.