a16z: Mainstream E-Commerce Platforms Restrict AI Shopping Agents, Consumers Still Have Concerns About AI Placing Orders on Their Behalf

According to a16z researcher Moses Sternstein in his weekly publication "This Week in Charts", Agentic Commerce is encountering resistance. Major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon are beginning to block AI shopping agents. Cloudflare data shows that since this summer, the proportion of AI agents and crawlers receiving 403 "Forbidden" responses has approximately doubled compared to previous levels. The article suggests that e-commerce platforms are concerned about losing customer relationships and advertising revenue, as well as fraud and returns. Data from the National Retail Federation (NRF) indicates that the e-commerce return rate has roughly doubled since 2019, with total return costs having increased approximately threefold. Consumers also have concerns. Approximately 25% of respondents are willing to let AI handle purchases for most consumer goods (excluding luxury items), but 42% completely distrust AI placing orders on their behalf. Similarweb clickstream data reveals that consumers mainly use AI in the "middle stage" of shopping to compare products and prices, with final purchase decisions remaining primarily up to themselves.