Retail technology innovation of the week: Visa Intelligent Commerce lets AI agents find, shop, buy for you

Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH, and sponsored by 3D Cloud, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.

Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, alongside the publication of the 2025 report.

So far, we’ve flagged up sterling work being done by Ocado Retail, Decathlon, Lacoste, Downtown Spirits, TalkShopLive, Huck’s, Wing, Nobody’s Child, IKI, Pixevia, Archive, Therabody, Outform, Kingfisher, Boots UK, Ocula Technologies, Ikea, Carrefour Belgium, Matalan, and McDonald’s.

And this week we’re focusing on Visa, which is rolling out a new platform that lets users delegate their online shopping tasks to AI agents, starting next year. While people will set spending limits, the AI agents will take care of the rest.

“Soon people will have AI agents browse, select, purchase and manage on their behalf,” says Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell. “These agents will need to be trusted with payments, not only by users, but by banks and sellers as well.” 

“Just like the shift from physical shopping to online, and from online to mobile, Visa is setting a new standard for a new era of commerce. Now, with Visa  Intelligent Commerce, AI agents can find, shop and buy for consumers based on their pre-selected preferences. Each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest.” 

Intelligent Commerce brings a suite of integrated APIs and a commercial partner programme to AI platforms, enabling developers to deploy Visa’s AI commerce capabilities securely and at scale. 

The company is working on this with the likes of Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, and Stripe.

“We’re working with companies at the forefront of AI innovation to encourage AI platform participation and support new ways to pay with security and trust as our number one priority,” adds Forestell. “Together with our partners, we fully embrace AI’s potential to transform all aspects of commerce, payments and business.” 

RTIH AI in Retail Awards

RTIH, organiser of the industry leading RTIH Innovation Awards, proudly brings you the first edition of the RTIH AI in Retail Awards, which is now open for entries. 

As we witness a digital transformation revolution across all channels, AI tools are reshaping the omnichannel game, from personalising customer experiences to optimising inventory, uncovering insights into consumer behaviour, and enhancing the human element of retailers' businesses.

With 2025 set to be the year when AI and especially gen AI shake off the ‘heavily hyped’ tag and become embedded in retail business processes, our newly launched awards celebrate global technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world and the resulting benefits for retailers, shoppers and employees.

Our 2025 winners will be those companies who not only recognise the potential of AI, but also make it usable in everyday work - resulting in more efficiency and innovation in all areas.

Winners will be announced at an evening event at The Barbican in Central London on Wednesday, 3rd September.

This will kick off with a drinks reception in the stunning Conservatory, followed by a three course meal, and awards ceremony in the Garden Room.

Please email our Editor, Scott Thompson, if you have any questions or need further information: scott.thompson@retailtechinnovationhub.com

Key 2025 dates

Friday, 18th July: Award entry deadline 

Tuesday, 22nd July: 2025 finalists revealed

Wednesday, 23rd July - Friday, 8th August: Judging days

Wednesday, 3rd September: Winners announced at the 2025 RTIH AI in Retail Awards Ceremony, to be held at The Barbican in Central London.