A study released recently by Checkout.com, a digital payments company, highlights the consumer buying behavior which is enabling the fast-evolving digital economy. The research study, reportedly conducted with 4000 consumers across the United Kingdom and United States reveals a number of transformative trends, such as an increasing appetite to hand over purchasing buying power to ‘agentic AI’ – systems that are able to independently search, compare, and acquire items on behalf of consumers.
The survey shared by Checkout.com revealed that UK based consumers are preparing to hand over a lot more of their shopping decisions to agentic AI, with a significant 40% saying that they would be “comfortable letting agentic AI take charge of everyday purchases they consider to be ‘boring’ like groceries, phone bills, or household goods.”
On average, those willing to let AI transact on their behalf said they “would do so up to a value of around £200 – revealing an emerging “trust threshold” for agentic commerce.”
That appetite builds on habits forming currently. Many UK residents are already turning to AI for shopping inspiration – “42% say they’ve used it to find gift ideas for a partner, while one in five (20%) have even asked AI to write birthday card messages.”
Although consumers are seemingly content to leverage AI to seek inspiration for gifts, they’re said to be fairly “less comfortable handing over full control to an agent.”
Notably, four in ten (40%) respondents say “letting agentic AI handle gifting feels “too impersonal” for gifts or special occasions, suggesting consumers want the technology to serve as a helper rather than a substitute for moments of choice and care.”
These findings could point to “a pivotal moment for UK commerce, as agentic AI has the potential to take the inconvenience out of everyday shopping, while preserving consumer choice for more personal, or enjoyable, purchases.”
The data also points to a generational shift said to be currently underway. Seven in ten (70%) of 25–34 year olds say they “would be happy to let AI agents handle transactions. Among this group, almost half (49%) report already using AI to support shopping decisions, from finding deals to comparing reviews.”
However, fraud and security remain the biggest barriers. Four in ten (40%) shoppers worry about the risk of fraud or data misuse if autonomous agents start “spending for them, and many say their willingness would depend on stronger protections such as guaranteed security (31%) or easier refunds and returns (30%).”
After recent, high profile data breaches, the research shows that trust “will be the key” to AI adoption.
Checkout.com is working with card networks and tech brands to “bring payment security and storefront guardrails to agentic commerce.”
As noted in the update, Checkout.com has integrated various capabilities such as Visa Intelligent Commerce and the recently announced Visa Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard Agent Pay, and support for Google’s Agent Payment Protocol (AP2), an open-source framework “that any enterprise or developer can adopt.”
These tools are designed to enable agents to “transact safely and responsibly on behalf of consumers, while ensuring the payments experience remains seamless.”
With the UK digital commerce market set to reach around $2 trillion by 2035, the integration of agentic AI could mark the so-called “next frontier in how consumers interact with retailers and payments systems.”
But that adoption will depend on building transparency, “control mechanisms, and robust protections into every step of the AI-driven journey.”
Research conducted with OnePoll. The total sample size was “2000 adults in the UK and 2000 in the US.”
Online survey was reportedly conducted “25th – 26th Sept 2025.”