As AI adoption accelerates, two new pieces of research have found that trust is set to play a significant role in customer take-up and usage of agentic commerce.
New research from Checkout.com suggests that Brits are more cautious about AI shopping agents than their global counterparts. 23% expect at least 10% of purchases to be AI-driven within a year, compared to 33% globally. The research – detailed in Checkout.com’s report Agentic Commerce 2026: The State of Consumer Demand and Merchant Readiness – also found that 41% of Brits say they trust no organisation to operate an AI shopping agent compared to 27% globally. A further 37% say they will never delegate purchases to AI, compared to 24% globally.
Safeguards and control key to building trust
The research demonstrates that British consumers need clear safeguards in place to trust agentic commerce. Top non-negotiables for feeling confident with agent-led shopping are easy cancellation (31%), ability to revoke permission instantly (31%) and requirement to show options before buying (27%). Rory O’Neill, CMO at Checkout.com, said: “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.”
Merchants also recognise the need for transparency and control, with 69% saying giving customers the real-time ability to revoke permissions will be critical to consumer adoption of agentic commerce programmes.
Consumers weigh cost against influence
Checkout.com’s findings dovetail with new research from payments consultancy PSE Consulting which found that 43% of consumers would take a free AI shopping assistant even if its recommendations were influenced by advertising, with only 27% saying they’d opt to pay for a fully impartial alternative.
The study looked at 4,250 consumers across the UK, US, France and Germany, and it echoes the finding that British consumers are more cautious about AI adoption. 48% of Brits said advertising would reduce their trust in AI-generated recommendations, compared to 40% globally.
Chris Jones, Managing Director at PSE Consulting, believes the data points to a more complex monetisation landscape than a simple binary choice between free, ad-supported AI and paid, independent alternatives. He said: “Consumers are carrying forward a long-standing digital bargain from search and social media into the AI era. They are not rejecting commercially influenced services – they are comfortable with them but they are far more sensitive to how that influence affects the usefulness of recommendations.”
A tiered model emerges for AI shopping
The research suggests the commercial model for AI shopping assistants is likely to evolve into a tiered ecosystem, with free ad-supported models dominating mainstream adoption and fully agnostic premium models offered alongside enterprise services where the advice is always user-centric.
Taken together, the findings from Checkout.com and PSE Consulting suggest British consumers are entering the AI shopping era more cautiously, and with a more pragmatic understanding of commercial influence, than is often assumed. In order to establish and maintain trust, merchants need to guarantee full consistency across the agentic shopping purchasing journey, including the assurance that their products are accurately interpreted, correctly prioritised and consistently represented in AI-driven recommendation environments.
Brands that can demonstrate control, clarity and consistency will be best placed to turn cautious interest into real usage.
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