Every year Stripe publishes a letter looking at the year in E-Commerce and outlining trends. One chapter co…
by Marcel Hollerbach · World of Commerce
Every year Stripe publishes a letter looking at the year in E-Commerce and outlining trends. One chapter covers "The five levels of agentic commerce" and I think it worth looking into:
Level 1: Eliminating web forms 📝 You research what you want, send a URL to your agent, and it automatically fills out all your payment and shipping details.
Level 2: Descriptive search 🔍 Instead of blunt keyword hunting, you just describe your situation to the AI. The system reasons across things like weather, materials, reviews, and delivery times to find exactly what you need.
Level 3: Persistence 🧠 You stop reintroducing yourself. The system remembers your preferences from previous chats and curates options that already fit your taste and budget.
Level 4: Delegation 🤝 You stop choosing altogether. Just give the AI a task and a budget, and it handles the searching, evaluating, and purchasing for you!
Level 5: Anticipation 🔮 There is no prompt. The AI already knows your schedule and preferences, makes the purchases before you even ask, and simply sends you a notification.
Right now, the industry is hovering on the edge of Levels 1 and 2. I am curious for what 2026 brings.