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A new research from Checkout.com, a leading global digital payments company, has found a growing gap between emerging consumer demand and the trust, control and infrastructure needed to support agentic commerce.
This is according to Checkout.com’s new report, Agentic Commerce 2026: The State of Consumer Demand and Merchant Readiness.
While a significant segment of global consumers expect AI shopping to scale quickly, the UAE is outstripping all other surveyed regions in adoption velocity. For UAE consumers not yet using the technology, they expect agentic commerce to handle 10% or more of their online shopping in just 12 months on average. Overall, 79% of UAE consumers feel comfortable letting an AI complete a purchase for them, and only 2% said they would not be motivated to use an AI shopping agent at all.
The result is a unique shift in consumer dynamics where trust boundaries are being entirely redrawn in the UAE. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of UAE consumers agree they would trust an AI shopping agent more than their own family members to shop for them – dramatically higher than the US (27%) or the UK (25%). Furthermore, 64% believe an AI shopping agent would buy clothes that suit them better than they can pick out for themselves.
This comfort extends into highly sensitive financial categories; nearly a quarter of UAE consumers (24%) are comfortable sharing their salary, disposable income, and real-time bank balance with an AI, while 19% would grant it access to their personal calendar.
Consumers are clear on how organizations can nurture trust with agentic commerce, but in the UAE, this automation comes with reshaping of brand loyalty. The research found that 71% of UAE shoppers would let an AI shopping agent switch their preferred brands and substitute products if it found a better value option. To counteract this, 24% state that knowing the AI would only buy from retailers or brands they have pre-approved would most increase their confidence in the technology.
Agentic commerce for UAE consumers is being driven by convenience, but it also reveals atypical shopping behaviors. While Western consumers relegate complex purchases to the bottom of their lists, the UAE is unusually open to AI handling their money, with 22% saying financial services and insurance products would be among the first things they delegate to an AI. Additionally, 72% would use an AI agent specifically to beat the digital queues for festival or event tickets, and 62% admit they would use an AI shopping agent to purchase items on their behalf without telling anyone they were doing it.
The findings suggest that as agentic commerce scales, UAE consumers are shifting liability to the banks. If an AI agent makes a mistake, like buying the wrong item or incurring an unexpected cost, 17% of UAE shoppers believe the payment provider, bank, or card provider should be primarily responsible for fixing it and issuing a refund.
Rory O’Neill, CMO at Checkout.com, said, “Agentic commerce is quickly moving from concept to reality. Consumers are beginning to experiment with AI agents for everyday purchases, and across the industry we’re seeing rapid collaboration around the protocols and standards that will support this next phase of ecommerce. But while adoption is ramping up, the infrastructure behind it is still developing.
Consumers need confidence that AI agents will operate within clear controls around security, refunds, permissions and spend limits. Until those foundations are in place, trust will remain one of the biggest barriers to adoption.”