Agentic commerce
Commerce where an AI agent searches, compares, and can complete a purchase on a buyer’s behalf. The interface is conversational and the transaction is agent-to-agent.
Agentic commerce,
in plain English.
A new acronym ships every month. Here is what each one means for a brand — and which ones matter.
14terms in the glossary
Agent-to-agent
A2A
The interaction pattern where a customer agent talks directly to a brand agent or structured commerce system.
AI shopping agent
The buyer-side assistant — such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Meta AI, or a private agent — that builds a product shortlist.
Brand agent
The brand-side agent that knows the catalog, approved claims, voice, and constraints and represents them consistently.
Context
Products, pricing, inventory rules, knowledge, claims, reviews, and constraints compiled into each channel’s native form.
Agentic Commerce Protocol
ACP
A checkout rail for carrying product, cart, payment, confirmation, and merchant order creation through an agent conversation.
Universal Commerce Protocol
UCP
A semantic commerce format for agent discovery and transaction workflows in the Google ecosystem.
Model Context Protocol
MCP
A standard for connecting AI models to approved tools and data; app extensions can render richer product interfaces.
Agent Skills
A package describing when and how an assistant should use a capability, pointing at current tools rather than copied catalog data.
Cost per sale
CPS
Pricing where a platform earns commission only after a completed, attributed transaction.
Merchant of record
MOR
The legal seller. In the replicated GEOly model, the connected brand remains merchant of record.
Generative / answer engine optimization
GEO / AEO
Optimizing content for AI citation and visibility, distinct from publishing live products and checkout rails.
Attribution
Evidence that a completed order came from a channel; GEOly uses conservative click-through completed-sale attribution.
Agentic checkout
A purchase carried by an agent either within a supported protocol or through a prebuilt cart handed to the merchant checkout.