The Future Shopper 2025 - an international VML study among 25,000 consumers (including 1,000 in the Netherlands) - shows that 54% of people in the Netherlands already use AI tools such as ChatGPT. And although AI shopping is still in its early days, 33% of Dutch shoppers say they want to use AI agents to find the best price. 25% are even open to a personal AI assistant that organizes their life, including groceries and purchases.
“We are on the brink of autonomous shopping. An AI agent determines which products are needed, after which the consumer only has to say ‘yes’ to a filled shopping cart,” says Paul Appelhof, eCommerce consultant at VML.
An AI agent determines which products are needed, and the consumer only has to say “yes” to a pre-filled cart. This is the rise of Autonomous Commerce (aCommerce): a market in which AI takes over the buying process.
What e-commerce managers should know about this shift within 6–12 months; AI agents will, on behalf of your customers:
- Audit your brand - check whether you’re trustworthy and have a solid reputation
- Analyze your competition - compare products and services on quality and values
- Evaluate your service - do you offer integrated answers and solutions?
- Act autonomously - select, pay, and arrange delivery without human intervention
Be aware that the first AI agents are already shopping on your site. If these agents skip your brand or webshop, it means lost revenue and you automatically drop out of consideration - despite your current success on Google or marketplaces.
Four steps to start now
- Build brand trust: agents ignore pretty websites and choose purely on reputation and reliability
- Remove ambiguity on your website: agents scan more systematically than humans and will mercilessly penalize confusion
- Check verifiable trust signals: do you have enough reviews, certificates, and seals/badges that agents can validate?
- Test your aCommerce readiness: learn now how agents assess your brand before AI agents go mainstream
