Agentic Commerce (2026)

If you want to become knowledgeable about Agentic Commerce, I'd follow a combination of industry leaders, technology builders, payments experts, and retail strategists.

My recommendation is to avoid following only AI influencers. Agentic Commerce sits at the intersection of AI, ecommerce, payments, product discovery, retail media, and customer experience.

Here is the shortlist I'd start with.

1. People to follow

THE PEOPLE SHAPING THE CONVERSATION

1. Andrew Ng

AI agents, autonomous workflows, and the broader AI ecosystem. Excellent for understanding the technology underpinning agentic commerce.

2. Marc Benioff

The future of AI-driven customer relationships, enterprise agents, and commerce.

3. Tobi Lütke

One of the most important voices to follow for the future of ecommerce infrastructure and AI-enabled shopping.

4. Patrick Collison

Payments infrastructure, APIs, financial infrastructure, and how AI agents will transact.

5. Sundar Pichai

Google's AI commerce strategy, shopping experiences, and Universal Commerce Protocol.

6. Lily Varon

Particularly valuable for understanding agentic payments, consumer adoption, and commercial implications.

2. Companies and organizations to follow

These are arguably just as important as individual influencers.

3. Newsletters, research and publications

These are the resources I'd put on a regular reading list.

Forrester

Research on consumer adoption, agentic payments, and retail implications.

Forrester research

CB Insights

Market maps, emerging startups, competitive intelligence, and investment trends.

CB Insights

Modern Retail

Practical coverage of how retailers and brands are responding to AI.

Modern Retail

Retail Dive

Retail strategy, technology adoption, and industry developments.

Retail Dive

4. Five topics you absolutely need to understand

I'd organize your learning around these five areas:

1. Agentic shopping and product discovery

How AI agents discover, compare, recommend, and select products.

2. Agentic payments

How agents transact, receive authorization, and make purchases.

3. Commerce protocols

Understand ACP, UCP, AP2, MCP, and A2A. These will shape interoperability.

4. Product data and AI discoverability

How brands make products understandable, accessible, and discoverable to AI agents.

5. The future of retail media and marketing

How advertising, merchandising, brand visibility, and customer acquisition change when AI agents influence purchasing decisions.

For additional research, two particularly useful resources are the Agentic Commerce Atlas and Agentic Commerce Index, which track the evolving players, protocols, and ecosystem. (Agentic Commerce Atlas) (agenticcommerceindex.com) (Agentic Commerce Atlas)

My recommendation

If I were building an Agentic Commerce learning network, I'd prioritize:

1. Shopify and OpenAI – understand the commerce transformation.
2. Stripe and Visa – understand the payments transformation.
3. Google – understand the protocol and ecosystem transformation.
4. Forrester and CB Insights – understand the business and market transformation.
5. Modern Retail – understand how retailers are responding.

One important distinction: Agentic Commerce is not simply ecommerce with a chatbot. It represents a potential shift in how consumers discover products, make decisions, and authorize transactions.

I'd be happy to build you a curated list of 25 must-follow people on LinkedIn and X, specifically focused on Agentic Commerce rather than general AI.

To learn about Agentic Commerce - the rapidly evolving shift where AI agents discover, compare, and transact products on behalf of consumers - it helps to follow the major organizations, protocols, and industry researchers leading the space. Because this domain bridges conversational AI, payment infrastructure, and enterprise retail, the best insights come from those building the underlying frameworks and tracking the structural shift. Agentic Commerce: Make Your Brand Unmissable - Accenture

1. Key Technology & Protocol Leaders

The infrastructure of agentic commerce is being shaped by major tech and payment partnerships. Following the engineering and product leaders at these companies provides a direct line to how protocols work:

• Stripe & OpenAI: Co-developers of the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), which powers checkout and discovery loops in platforms like ChatGPT Shopping. Follow their engineering and product blogs for standards on how merchants integrate transactions. AI Shopping Agents: The 2026 Agentic Commerce Guide - RZLT

• Google (Shopping Graph & UCP): Google leads the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) alongside major enterprise retailers (Shopify, Target, Walmart). Keeping an eye on Google's announcements around AI Mode and retail automation is essential. AI Shopping Agents: The 2026 Agentic Commerce Guide - RZLT

• Payment Network Innovators: Companies like Visa (Trusted Agent Protocol), Mastercard (Agent Pay), and American Express are defining the fraud prevention, security, and payment mandates for autonomous agents. AI Shopping Agents: The 2026 Agentic Commerce Guide - RZLT

2. Enterprise Research & Retail Platforms

To understand how brands, enterprise architecture, and retail platforms are adapting to agentic traffic:

• Shopify & BigCommerce Engineering Blogs: These ecommerce platforms publish deep technical guides on how merchants must structure their product data (variant availability, structured feeds, and real-time inventory APIs) so AI shopping agents can actually "see" and buy their products. AI Shopping Agents: The 2026 Agentic Commerce Guide - RZLT

• Global Consultancies (Accenture Song & Gartner): Research arms like Accenture Song regularly publish foundational reports on how agentic commerce disrupts customer acquisition, loyalty, and brand visibility. Agentic Commerce: Make Your Brand Unmissable - Accenture

3. AI & Commerce Analysts on Professional Networks

When looking for independent commentary, breakdown of protocols (ACP vs. UCP), and strategy on LinkedIn or industry newsletters, look for:

• AI & Automation Thought Leaders: Industry analysts tracking enterprise AI frameworks (such as those featured in Thinkers360’s Agentic AI indexes) who cover how multi-step autonomous execution impacts workflows.

• E-commerce Growth & SEO Strategists: Practitioners who specialize in Agent Optimization (AO) - the evolution of search engine optimization where brands optimize their catalogs for AI shopping agents rather than just human browsing.

What specific angle of agentic commerce are you most focused on? (e.g., building merchant infrastructure, understanding consumer behavior, or implementing payment protocols?)

To learn about Agentic Commerce (the shift where autonomous AI agents handle product research, comparison, and transactions on behalf of consumers), tracking industry analysts, payments innovators, and product leaders driving the space is your best bet. Emily Pfeiffer - Principal Analyst, Commerce Technology (including “Agentic Commerce”) at Forrester Research (she/her) - “Terrifying but not impolite” | LinkedInAgentic Commerce: AI Shopping Agents Guide 2025 | Deloitte USHow agentic commerce is changing the customer experience

Prominent voices, researchers, and industry leaders specializing in this intersection of AI, retail, and payments include:

** Emily Pfeiffer** (LinkedIn Profile) - Principal Analyst for Commerce Technology at Forrester Research, who formally covers and researches the evolution of Agentic Commerce. Following her provides deep enterprise-level insights into how commerce tech stack infrastructure must adapt. Emily Pfeiffer - Principal Analyst, Commerce Technology (including “Agentic Commerce”) at Forrester Research (she/her) - “Terrifying but not impolite” | LinkedIn

** Lisa Yokoyama** (LinkedIn Profile) - Director of Product Management leading online and agentic commerce experiences for Google Pay (formerly leading Amex Digital Labs). She offers an insider's view on how major tech ecosystems are building the rails for autonomous agent transactions. Lisa Yokoyama - Director, Product at Google | LinkedIn

** Trent Addington** - Vice President of Payment Acceptance at Walmart, who tracks the operational and merchant-side realities of how large-scale retailers prepare their APIs and payment flows for non-human, AI-driven shoppers. Agentic Commerce: Rethinking the Customer Experience in

** Margaret Ryan** - Senior Vice President and Head of Product at American Express Digital Labs, focusing heavily on how authentication, trust, and payment security evolve when AI agents hold purchasing authority. Agentic Commerce: Rethinking the Customer Experience in

** Richard Crone** - CEO of Crone Consulting, a recognized payments and mobile commerce expert who frequently analyzes how agentic workflows disrupt traditional brand-to-consumer website funnels. How agentic commerce is changing the customer experience

Would you like me to focus on enterprise strategy for retailers, payment/fintech infrastructure, or consumer-facing AI tools regarding agentic commerce?

Follow Lauren Livak Gilbert of the Digital Shelf Institute and Max Sinclair of Azoma for practical, brand-focused perspectives; they discuss an actionable agentic-commerce framework on the Digital Deep Dive podcast. For broader industry analysis, follow Forrester’s agentic-commerce research and Accenture’s coverage.(open.spotify.com)(forrester.com)(accenture.com)

To learn about Agentic Commerce, follow a mix of thought leaders, summit speakers, and repeat founders who are actively shaping this space. Key names include Noelle Russell, Tim Cortinovis, Amelia Van Camp (Mirakl), Ömer Taskavak (EssilorLuxottica), Marc Lore (Jet.com/Wizard), and Scot Wingo (ChannelAdvisor).

🌟 Leading Voices in Agentic AI & Commerce

🏛️ Industry Summits & Networks

• Agentic Commerce Summit brings together leaders from Nike, Galeries Lafayette, Decathlon, Virgin Media O2, and Cloudflare. Following summit speakers like Linda Cereda (Nike), Régis Pennel (Galeries Lafayette), and Andrew Harrison (ABN AMRO) provides insight into how major brands are preparing for agent-first commerce. Agentic Commerce Summit | Speakers

• IAB’s Agentic Shelf Deep Dive features Collin Colburn (IAB) and Amelia Van Camp (Mirakl), who share tactical strategies for retail media teams adapting to agent-driven shopping. IAB | Winning the Agentic Shelf: A Practitioner Deep Dive

🚀 Founders & Builders

• Marc Lore and Scot Wingo are standout repeat founders building the infrastructure for agentic commerce.

• Timur Luguev (Azoma) is innovating on how AI agents discover and recommend products, with clients like L’Oréal and Unilever. 14 repeat founders building agentic commerce - CB Insights Research

⚠️ Key Considerations

• Agentic Commerce is still emerging: Many voices are experimenting with frameworks, so expect evolving strategies.

• Risk of hype vs. substance: Some influencers focus on thought leadership rather than practical implementation. Prioritize those with hands-on roles (e.g., Amelia Van Camp, Ömer Taskavak).

• Follow both strategists and builders: Strategists (Russell, Cortinovis) provide vision, while founders (Lore, Wingo, Luguev) show execution.

👉 If you want a curated learning path, I’d suggest starting with Noelle Russell for foundational AI leadership, then following Amelia Van Camp for applied commerce strategies, and finally tracking Marc Lore and Scot Wingo for entrepreneurial execution.

Would you like me to create a Twitter/LinkedIn follow list of these experts so you can easily track their updates?