AGENTIC Experience INDEX, SEPTEMBER 2026
Retail
People are letting AI agents like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini check prices and fill the basket.
We’ve tested how 80 retailers in the Benelux
deal with agents.
What we TESTED
Steps when shopping through an agent.
Check the price
Read the shelf price for a named product.
Check availability
In stock, in this store, today.
Build the basket
Five retailers let an agent do this for real. Forty-three block it outright.
Order with a slot
Checkout with a delivery window that fits the calendar.
Handle the return
Start a return without a phone call.
This is how retailers
in the Benelux scored.
Key numbers
This is the agentic readiness
of retailers today
Just over half can be read by agents
44 of 80 companies
Almost half don’t let agents in
36 of 80 companies
A handful offer truly agentic commerce
5 of 80 companies
So what does an
agentic experience
in retail look like?
Most retailers
Everyone talks agentic commerce,
most retailers block it.
An agent is stopped on most of what it tries. And when it can get in, it cannot go far.
Torfs
Lets your agent add
an order to the cart.
The only retailer to complete all three tasks it was set. Four others get an order into the cart: Amazon, HEMA, Omoda and Spar.
What about the rest?
of 80
Invisibles
An agent cannot reach or read them, they are just not part of the conversation.
of 80
Informers
Agents can get in and answer a question, but they cannot complete a job.
Showroom
Everything on display but no till. Usually by accident.
Gatekeeper
The task can only be completed behind a login, identity app, or in a dedicated app. Deliberate, every time.
of 80
Actors
Agents can complete at least one job end to end.
Always a decision to point outwards.
What answers did our agents get?
This gets us thinking.
Opportunity
How retailers can become more agentic.
— Open up to agents
Bots are too binary now.
Retailers have a love-hate relationship with bots. Once allies in SEO, now scrapers in disguise. Unfortunately, blocking them blocks all use cases. Initiatives like the Agentic Commerce Protocol should help here. And expect companies like OpenAI or Google to also offer agentic ads or integrations. New technology, same gatekeepers.
— Become an agent
Life is agentic.
There’s more than just product or price discovery. Guidance and advice, meal planning or health and food coaching, ... All ideal tasks for goal-directed agents. Incorporate those patterns into your own channels.
Find out
how you
are doing
80 companies
40 in Belgium, 40 in The Netherlands.
Each was asked the same 3 tasks: