Adyen Warns AI Shopping Agents Threaten Direct Retailer-Consumer Bonds

The rise of autonomous AI shopping assistants is threatening to sever the direct relationship between retailers and their customers, according to payments firm Adyen. As AI agents take over the end-to-end shopping process, merchants are being forced to pivot their strategies to prevent their demand from flowing exclusively through Large Language Models (LLMs).

These AI-driven assistants are now capable of recommending products, selecting specific merchants, and initiating payments independently. By bypassing traditional direct browsing and login sequences, these agents act as intermediaries that strip brands of the direct engagement and data typically used to build long-term customer value. To counter this shift, Adyen is expanding its suite of retention tools, recently acquiring billing provider Orb and loyalty software firm Talon.One to help merchants strengthen customer retention.

The Shift to Agentic Commerce

Traditionally, e-commerce relied on a consumer interacting directly with a brand's website or mobile application. This direct channel allowed retailers to control the user experience and gather critical first-party data. However, the emergence of "agentic commerce" means the AI agent—not the brand—becomes the primary gateway for the transaction. For high-end brands, this shift risks turning the brand into a commodity that is merely a fulfillment option for an AI's recommendation.

The Crisis of Brand Loyalty

If AI agents become the primary decision-makers in the purchasing journey, the specific brand becomes less important than the agent's internal logic or recommendation engine. This creates a potential crisis of loyalty for retailers, as they lose the ability to influence the customer at the point of discovery.

"Loyalty becomes way more important," said Pieter van der Does, co-CEO of Adyen. He noted that Adyen is positioning itself as a partner providing both payment rails and loyalty infrastructure to ensure merchants "don’t suddenly get disintermediated" and find that their demand comes solely through LLMs.

The Path Forward

To survive this transition, merchants must create value that transcends the individual transaction. This includes implementing deep loyalty rewards and personalized incentives that encourage customers—or their AI agents—to specifically request their products over a competitor's.

While retailers fight to maintain their direct channels, Adyen is simultaneously integrating with the AI ecosystem. The firm has signed OpenAI as a customer, signaling growth among AI-native companies even as it helps traditional retailers defend against the disruptive potential of those same technologies.