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60% of Indian shoppers want personal AI agents, Adobe report finds
Our read
Stand up an agent-ready commerce stack now—structured product feeds, conversational APIs, and concierge handoffs—because 60%+ of Indian shoppers are signaling they'll transact through AI intermediaries, not your storefront UI.
Watch
Flipkart or Reliance announcing a consumer-facing shopping agent
The report,
Adobe's 2026 AI and Digital Trends Report finds India leads Asia Pacific in agentic AI appetite, with 60% of consumers wanting personal AI agents and 62% open to shopping via virtual AI concierges, signaling opportunity for Indian retailers to deploy agent-led commerce.
Channel facts
From the report. Source details below
- 55% engage brand AI agent
- 65% use AI for product recommendations
- 71% report GenAI content gains
What it means for online and offline
Scout acquisition or partnership targets in conversational AI, recommendation engines, and agent orchestration layers—Adobe's data suggests Indian retailers will need bolt-on agentic capabilities within 12-18 months to stay relevant.
Signals to track
- UPI or RBI guidance on agent-initiated payments and delegated authentication
- Adobe, Salesforce Commerce, or Shopify shipping agent-commerce SKUs priced for India
- ChatGPT or Gemini rolling out India-localized shopping with merchant onboarding
- First public case study showing >10% GMV via agent channel
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Stand up an agent-readiness audit: structured product feeds, real-time inventory APIs, and agent-authenticated checkout
- Pilot a branded concierge agent on top category (beauty, electronics, or fashion) with measurable AOV and return-rate KPIs
- Negotiate distribution terms with OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity shopping surfaces before defaults harden
- Instrument attribution for agent-originated sessions to defend marketing budget reallocations
The counter-case
The case against this reading — not reported by the source.
Survey 'openness' to AI agents is notoriously inflated — stated intent rarely converts to behavior. Adobe, which sells AI commerce infrastructure, has a clear vendor incentive to amplify agentic demand signals. India's actual digital commerce friction (payment failures, returns fraud, trust deficits) makes autonomous agent transactions a hard sell. Retailers building agent-led stacks now risk overbuilding for a use case where conversion economics remain unproven, while neglecting basics like search relevance and fulfillment SLAs.