This aligns with a significant shift in consumer behaviour, as new research indicates that nearly half of US shoppers now utilise AI tools for tasks ranging from price comparisons to product discovery. The payment giant predicts that millions of consumers will rely on AI agents to complete purchases by the 2026 holiday season.

To facilitate this era of ‘agentic shopping’, the company recently launched Visa Intelligent Commerce, a suite of APIs designed to enable secure transactions initiated by AI agents. Collaboration is already widespread, with over 100 partners across the commerce ecosystem involved. More than 30 partners are actively building within the sandbox environment, and over 20 agents are integrating directly. These efforts have yielded hundreds of successful real-world transactions, validating the technology in live production environments.

Regional implementation is proceeding rapidly. In the United States, partners such as Skyfire and Ramp are executing end-to-end purchases in closed beta. Pilot programmes in Europe and Asia Pacific are slated to commence in early 2026, alongside preparations in Latin America. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, a partnership with Aldar will enable UAE residents to automate repetitive real estate fees. Rubail Birwadker, SVP at Visa, emphasises that the current holiday season marks the end of an era, predicting that by 2026, AI agents will transition from merely assisting shoppers to autonomously completing transactions.