Commerce guide · Agentic Commerce
What is Agentic Commerce?
A guide for merchants
Explore Agent Commerce through a verifiable business workflow, its requirements and operating boundaries.
Maintained by：Frontvia · Published · Updated
What is Agentic Commerce?
Agentic Commerce, also called Agent Commerce, describes commerce workflows in which AI agents help discover, compare and buy products and obtain follow-up service. The available actions depend on user authorization, client capabilities and merchant systems. This guide focuses on merchant preparation and distinguishes recommendations from transaction execution.
Three modes with different completion criteria
| Mode | What happens | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| AI recommendation | Supply product information or comparisons. | Accurate, sourced information; no purchase has occurred. |
| Referral to checkout | An agent directs the user to a site for checkout. | Correct links and terms; the store completes checkout. |
| Authorized actions | An agent submits approved requests and checks status. | Valid authorization, reliable outcomes, revocable access and exception handling. |
The journey from discovery to after-sales
- Discover products
Provide official identity, clear product descriptions and an accessible entrance. Verify whether the target agent can find and understand it.
- Assess suitability
Check use, specifications, variants and limitations; model guesses are not product promises.
- Verify terms
Before execution, check current prices, stock, delivery and returns; refresh expired quotes.
- Obtain approval
Make the product, total and delivery terms explicit; signing in does not authorize arbitrary spending.
- Execute the transaction
Use agreed systems for orders and payments. On timeout, check the original request before retrying to avoid duplicate orders.
- Orders and after-sales
Return trackable records, distinguish created, paid and shipped states, and verify identity and permissions for service access.
Minimum merchant preparation
- Authorized, reviewed product and policy information with an update owner.
- A system owner, permission scope, approval method and exception owner for each action.
- Choose a lookup or one purchase task, then validate success, refusal, changed stock, duplicate requests and staff handoff.
- Track discovery, task success, cost per order and new buyers separately; demo views are not business outcomes.
Where PAP and Frontvia fit
PAP is one protocol approach for personal agents interacting with companies. Commerce still requires pricing, payment, order and service systems. Frontvia is exploring how business agents connect these parts; protocol support, client interoperability and real customer demand need separate validation.
Terminology and scope
Stripe uses the term Agentic Commerce in its public guide. The workflow and acceptance checklist here are Frontvia pilot design recommendations, not Stripe certification or a claim of live transaction support.
Choose the next step for your business.
Understand the roles, then choose between connecting a store and creating an agent-native storefront. Frontvia is in development; pilot scope will be agreed around real needs.