Shoppers increasingly ask AI questions like this instead of typing into a search box. A decision that once took days — searching, clicking ads, comparing prices and reviews on brand sites — now compresses into one conversation with an AI agent. At Korea’s MAX SUMMIT 2026, Lee Ju-ha, head of enterprise solution sales at Appier Korea, illustrated the shift through a fictional shopper named Minsu and called it a fundamental compression of the decision cycle. Agentic commerce, she argues, isn’t one more sales channel; it changes how consumers and brands meet.
She cited figures showing AI search usage already ahead of traditional search (50% vs. 31%) and a Morgan Stanley forecast that 10% to 20% of U.S. orders could flow through AI agents by 2030. More important than the exact share, she says, is that AI has become a new participant in purchase decisions.
Journeys are speeding up while becoming more nonlinear. Minsu moves between AI recommendations, brand sites, reviews and physical stores. The question for brands is no longer where they’re searched, but whether they can be found and chosen at every touchpoint.
The first thing to check, Lee says, is whether customer data is connected around real customers. CRM membership data, e-commerce purchase history, store POS data and web and app behavior often sit in separate silos, hiding the context in which customers meet the brand and decide. Connecting existing touchpoints into a single customer view comes before adding channels.
Lee’s proposed strategy pairs in-store sales staff with sales AI agents. Staff excel at understanding taste and context through conversation; AI agents excel at analyzing data from many touchpoints, inferring intent and suggesting next actions. Together, frontline staff can deliver data-informed personalization. The key outcome in the case she presented, she stressed, was being able to see customers who appeared separately online and offline as one person.
People aren’t replaced in the agent era, Lee says. AI handles analysis, segmentation and repetitive execution, but humans decide what experience to create, what the brand should say and whether AI’s suggestions fit business goals. Three skills grow in importance:
Agent-led purchasing is already emerging in Korea, as when Kakao picked Coupang Eats as its first agentic AI partner to run from chat to checkout. Start by checking whether your customer data breaks apart by channel — the same problem behind Lowe’s giving its CMO digital commerce for a unified customer view. The interview reflects a vendor’s perspective, but its diagnosis — connected data first — holds up.
Commerce in which AI agents go beyond search and recommendations to participate in comparing, deciding and even purchasing, compressing many steps into one conversation.
Connect CRM, e-commerce purchase history, store POS and web and app behavior into one view per customer before adding new channels.
Pairing in-store staff, who understand customer context, with sales AI agents, which analyze cross-channel data and suggest next actions, to build the customer experience together.
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