Your new biggest customer
How AI agents are becoming the first decision layer across markets, and what companies need to do about it.
Google just announced the Universal Commerce Protocol, which lets AI agents complete purchases across retailers end to end.
This looks like an ecommerce story. It is. But the implications extend well beyond ecommerce.
As agents take on more discovery and execution, markets will slowly shift away from persuading people in the moment and toward being easy for machines to evaluate and trust. Brand still matters a lot, but agents are increasingly becoming an important customer alongside humans.
In ecommerce, the implications are fairly obvious:
Product data matters more than ever
Price, availability, and fulfillment reliability drive selection
If an agent can’t understand or trust you, you won’t consistently show up
This won’t change everything overnight. Humans are still very much in the loop. But directionally, the companies that do well may start to look boring in a good way. Clean data. Strong operations. A consistently good experience.
This won’t stop at retail
Anywhere an AI agent can evaluate options and take action, the same logic applies. SaaS procurement. Travel booking. Insurance quoting. Hiring marketplaces. Even parts of professional services.
In all of these, the “buyer” increasingly looks like:
A system optimizing for objective certainty over subjective persuasion
Inputs that can be compared cleanly
Outcomes that can be verified
A little less storytelling. A lot more proof. Less friction.
This won’t replace human judgment. Agents will make the first cut, aggressively filtering what humans see. The importance of that filter will grow over time.
Former Exclusive Concepts team members know we were preparing for this shift years ago. Exclusive now goes to market as Go Fish Digital, led by a team that has helped more ecommerce businesses scale than just about anyone.
Your new biggest customer may not be human. The companies that adapt early will benefit.
What does it mean to adapt?
It starts with getting your data house in order.
For ecommerce companies, it means clean, structured, rich product data. Accurate inventory. Clear pricing rules. Price surveillance tied to share of voice, like what GrowByData supports, aligned to a well-defined profit optimization strategy. Reliable shipping and returns. What the agent sees has to match what happens.
For SaaS and B2B vendors, it means packaging and pricing are explicit. Features, limits, integrations, security posture, and contract terms are easy to evaluate. No “talk to sales” ambiguity when a machine is trying to compare options.
For travel, insurance, and marketplaces, it means availability, constraints, exclusions, and outcomes are clearly defined. What’s covered. What isn’t. When something applies and when it doesn’t.
For professional services, it means scopes, typical timelines, success criteria, and past outcomes are clear. Less storytelling. More evidence.
Across all industries the principle is the same.
Anything a human currently figures out through back and forth needs to be upfront and obvious to a machine.
That’s how agents decide who gets considered and who fails the first cut.