Exclusive: Visa preps for AI holiday shoppers, agentic commerce

Driving the news: Visa developed the open protocol with Cloudflare and support from partners including Microsoft, Shopify and Adyen.

• It's meant to help merchants manage a surge in AI-driven shopping activity — up 4,700% year-over-year, according to Visa — without blocking legitimate agents or requiring major checkout changes.

Between the lines: Jack Forestell, Visa's chief product and strategy officer, told Axios that this protocol is not only intended to be a Visa-specific tool.

• "It's intended to be a way of enabling agents and merchants to exchange that data and be very clear, this isn't a bot. This is a registered and certified agent," he said.
• The system is designed to make AI-driven shopping as seamless as today's online checkout — without forcing merchants to overhaul their systems, Forestell explained.

What they're saying: "AI is transforming holiday shopping into a race for speed and simplicity," Dave Anderson, VP of product marketing at Contentsquare, tells Axios, noting it's "important to recognize we're in the early innings of this shift.

What's next: This holiday season, most AI shopping will still stop short of full automation — agents might find gifts, but you'll still click "buy."

• Forestell predicts that 2026 could mark the first real season of agentic shopping, when a measurable share of purchases actually happen via AI agents.
• "We want commerce to be secure, simple, seamless, trustworthy and fast," Forestell said. "We think we'll just see a lot more commerce happening as a result."

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• Sam's Club extending store hours — here's what's changing
• Halloween scare: Candy costs are soaring
• Mastercard: Gift cards gain ground as tariffs hit holiday budgets