New Deloitte report: Asia Pacific set to lead the agentic future of commerce

Hong Kong, 30 March 2026 – Deloitte today released a report, “The future of commerce: Agentic shopping in Asia Pacific”, highlighting that the region is set to drive around two thirds of the world’s new retail sales over the next five years powered by over 4.3 billion shoppers, 18 megacities and the world’s fastest-growing middle class.¹

Digitally fluent customers and advanced commercial ecosystems put Asia Pacific businesses in a strong position to lead the development of agentic commerce. With almost three quarters of Asia Pacific consumers already using AI to discover, compare and learn about products, retailers and brands need to move fast. Today, 29% of consumer businesses in Asia Pacific report they are already adopting agentic AI, but this is expected to surge to 76% within two years.²

While innovators and first movers are already demonstrating what agent-enabled retail could look like, much more needs to be done across technology foundations, business models, governance, security and trust. A growing share of the industry now faces pressure to adapt quickly as consumer behaviours shift, platforms evolve and AI begins to reshape the retail value chain.

Key findings

• While 29% are adopting agentic AI today, this is expected to surge to 76% within two years. 

• More than half of Asia Pacific consumer businesses now have live AI implementations across IT, cybersecurity, marketing, sales and customer support, and around one-third are already using AI to transform their business models.³

• Despite rising investment, only around 30 percent of Asia Pacific consumer businesses report that at least 40 percent or more of their AI initiatives reach production with implementation challenges among the top barriers.⁴

• Nine in ten retail executives expect AI to be used more than traditional search engines by 2026, while half expect today’s multi-step shopping journey to collapse by 2027.⁵

• Industry forecasts suggest a growing share of activity may be influenced or handled by agents in coming years, as much as 25 percent of global e-commerce sales by 2030.⁶

• While two-thirds of retail leaders surveyed by Deloitte do not expect customers to fully embrace agents purchasing on their behalf before 2028—search, comparison and AI-powered recommendations are more imminent.⁷

“Asia Pacific is not just where agentic commerce is happening first. It is where the next decade of commerce will be written,” said Vanessa Matthijjsen, Deloitte Asia Pacific’s Consumer leader.

“Consumers across the region are already using AI at scale to discover and compare products, but they are telling us clearly that trust, security and transparency must catch up before they hand over the checkout moment to machines. Retailers and brands that move now to strengthen their data foundations, modernise operations and embed responsible AI governance will be best placed to compete in a world where AI becomes the default interface between consumers, agents and brands.”

Agentic AI is out of the lab: agentic trends reshaping Asia Pacific retail

Hyper-personal engagement: Retailers are using AI agents to connect signals from digital touchpoints, voice interactions and in-store sensors, enabling more relevant recommendations and tailored offers.

• Agentic stores – intelligence enters physical retail: Physical stores in markets such as China, Singapore and India are already evolving beyond transactional spaces into environments where intelligence is embedded directly into the shopping experience connecting digital engagement, in-store experience, and the full retail supply chain into a unified, responsive whole.

• Agentic operations: Leading Asia-Pacific omnichannel retailers are deploying specialised AI agents across their operations, including forecasting, inventory, pricing, fulfilment and customer services, signaling a shift from supporting work to actively shaping how work flows across the enterprise.

• Shopping agents – the new agentic customer: Shopping agents or ‘shopping bots’ are emerging as one of the most visible expressions of agentic commerce as consumers use AI to search, compare and evaluate options, and, in some cases, to complete purchases on their behalf. 

Six business imperatives for Asia Pacific retail leaders

To compete in the age of agentic commerce, Deloitte outlines six imperatives for Asia Pacific retailers and consumer brands:

1. Get the foundations right: data, interoperability and trust: As agents get to work, organisations must shift from traditional data and analytics governance to continuous, policy-driven data management to ensure safe and compliant autonomous action. Building agent-ready foundations is critical to scale intelligence, connect with emerging ecosystems and, most importantly, earn the trust required to compete in agent-mediated markets.

2. Design around behaviour, not just channels: Success will depend on how well businesses integrate human experiences, physical retail and intelligent systems into one seamless, intuitive ecosystem.⁸

3. Reinvent core operations for autonomy and speed: Core retail functions must evolve to enable retailers to sense demand, monitor supply and act in real time across increasingly complex networks.  Agentic AI will accelerate this shift, enabling forecasting, inventory, pricing and fulfilment to operate as interconnected, adaptive capabilities rather than isolated functions.

4. Differentiate through human connection and value: Brands must work hard to remain an omnipresent, valuable part of consumers’ lifestyles, ensuring products and services truly resonate with their values and needs.

5. Reinvent physical stores as experience-driven destinations: In Asia Pacific’s experiential and community-driven retail cultures, the retailers who lead will be those who reposition stores as intelligent, social and sensory-led environments in an increasingly automated retail landscape.

6. Embrace the evolving agent ecosystem: To innovate and remain resilient, retailers need to map technology dependencies, reassess partnerships, and enable rapid experimentation, while maintaining robust governance and security. 

"The future of commerce will belong to leaders that address the opportunities and challenges of an agentic future head-on. Success will favour organisations that are quick to establish strong foundations across their data, technology, workforce and partner ecosystems while keeping customers and trust at the centre of change and new business models," added Matthijssen.

To access the full report and learn more about the findings, please visit https://www.deloitte.com/ap/en/perspectives/future-of-commerce-agentic-shopping-in-apac.html