AI is already part of many UAE shoppers’ buying journeys, and many say they would let an agent place an order or use their payment details. PYMNTS Intelligence’s survey also points to a practical merchant problem: plenty expect agent-led sales, but relatively few can identify sales coming from AI platforms.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
PYMNTS reports that 72% of UAE consumers surveyed used AI during their most recent purchase. Those shoppers averaged 37 buying-related digital shopping days a month, compared with 30 among UAE shoppers overall. The comparison does not show that AI use causes people to shop more often.
The survey also found that 94% of AI shoppers would allow an agent to auto-order, and 88% would share payment data with one. On the business side, 42% of UAE merchants surveyed expect AI agents to account for at least 16% of their sales within two years. Yet only 31% say they can clearly identify sales originating from AI platforms, and 19% have structured product data that agents can read.
Why it matters
If shoppers use AI to discover, compare and buy products, counting only referrals or purchases directly attributed to an AI platform may miss part of the journey. Merchants may need product information that agents can interpret, alongside better ways to understand how customers arrive at a purchase.
There is a gap between what some consumers say they would delegate and what businesses can currently measure. It is a useful signal about expectations, not proof that agent-led shopping will become a large share of sales on schedule.
Our read
The most revealing number may be the mismatch: 42% of surveyed merchants expect agents to generate a substantial share of sales, while fewer than a third can clearly identify AI-originated sales. Before racing to optimise for an agent-shaped future, businesses need to know whether customers are actually using one to get to checkout. A smart shopping assistant is only useful if the product details are there to read, and the merchant can tell what happened next.
What to watch
- Whether merchants improve structured product data and tracking of AI-assisted sales.
- Whether shoppers’ willingness to delegate turns into actual agent-led purchases.
- How spending limits, cancellation rights and permission shape consumers’ comfort with autonomous orders.
Discussion spark: Should merchants prepare now for AI agents to shop on customers’ behalf, or wait until they can measure how much business agents actually bring?
Sources and evidence
- Source update (26 October 2026, 08:01 UTC)
- Source update (26 October 2026, 08:01 UTC)
Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.