Maybank Investment Bank Research has foreseen both opportunities and risks from ChatGPT Agentic Commerce.

The research house said in a note on last Friday that Agentic Commerce is still in its early stages and will take time to reach meaningful scale, but its long-term implications for e-commerce are significant.

On the risk side, artificial intelligence (AI) agents like ChatGPT could evolve into alternative distribution platforms for merchants, potentially bypassing established marketplaces and exerting pricing pressure by charging lower commissions.

At the same time, the opportunity lies in AI’s ability to act as a powerful traffic driver, similar to Google Search, social media, or YouTube, by directing consumers into the shopping funnel.

“Importantly, while discovery and checkout can be streamlined by AI, the backbone of e-commerce—logistics, inventory, seller management, and fulfillment— remains complex and entrenched, limiting the extent to which AI-only models can fully displace conventional platforms,” Maybank noted.

The research house opined that the competitive impact of Agentic Commerce is likely to be uneven across the e-commerce landscape.

Smaller platforms, which primarily act as demand originators, could face the greatest squeeze unless they quickly integrate with or partner alongside emerging AI agents.

By contrast, larger players with end-to-end capabilities—ranging from logistics networks to seller management infrastructure—are better shielded, as replicating these physical and operational moats is far more difficult.

Moreover, it said scale players may respond proactively by launching their own Agentic Commerce solutions, ensuring they remain central in the consumer journey and mitigating disintermediation risks from ChatGPT or similar AI-driven platforms.

“Agentic Commerce is still in its early stages and we will be closely monitoring developments,” it said.

It is noted in Brazil, Amazon has intensified competition by offering free fulfillment services for two months, to be extended for another two months.

Despite these initiatives, Maybank sees competitive risks for Sea’s Shopee to be relatively contained as Amazon just holds only about 10 percent of the Brazilian e-commerce market; and Amazon primarily targets the premium segment.

It is noted that ChatGPT’s Agentic Commerce lets AI actively help users buy products directly within chat.

Through instant checkout, users can tap “Buy,” confirm payment and shipping, and complete purchases without leaving
ChatGPT.

It works across formats—linking consumers to e-commerce platforms like Etsy or Shopify, or directly to merchants—while orders, and fulfillment are handled by sellers using their existing systems.

Built on the open-source Agentic Commerce Protocol with Stripe (payment processing), it securely passes order details between AI and merchants.

While merchant commission rate is not disclosed, it’s likely to be lower than 10 percent to 20 percent take-rate charged by the key e-commerce platforms globally, according to Maybank. 

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