Originally posted on LinkedIn

Key Insights

• AI can shape which brands customers consider before they reach a merchant’s website or checkout. If an agent cannot understand the full value of an offer, the brand could be left out of the recommendation.
• Merchants can assess agent readiness by testing whether AI can find, understand and accurately represent their full offer. Availability, service, financing, rewards, protections and promotions need to be visible while an agent is forming its recommendation.
• Building on open standards gives companies across platforms a common way to exchange product and offer information, identify who an agent represents and confirm what the customer authorized it to do.
• Consumer trust depends on useful recommendations, security, transparency and control. Research conducted by Oxford Economics with Synchrony found that 60% of consumers would pause or stop using AI after a poor recommendation.
• Synchrony is helping partners assess agent readiness, contributing to emerging standards and testing how financing and other customer benefits can work in AI shopping. The goal is to help merchants show what sets their offers apart and help customers find options that better fit their needs while staying informed and in control.

AI is beginning to shape what customers consider before they even reach a merchant's website or checkout. A customer can ask an AI assistant what to buy and use its recommendations to decide which options make their shortlist.

If the agent cannot understand the full value of an offer, the brand could be left out of the recommendation altogether.

Merchants need to make that full value visible to AI, and open standards are imperative to carrying that information accurately and securely across platforms, merchants, issuers and payment providers while preserving clear signals of identity, permission and authorization.

Synchrony leaders dive into these topics

• Rachel Moore, SVP of Agentic Commerce, Payments & Incubation, explains how merchants can make the full value of their offers visible before an agent narrows a customer's choices
• Mike Storiale, SVP of AI Technology & Transformation, makes the case for open standards that can carry that value securely from recommendation through transaction
• Nimrod Barak, Chief AI Officer, examines why adoption will depend on giving consumers transparency and control.

Make sure AI understands why customers should choose you

An AI agent might find a brand, product and price while overlooking the availability, service, financing, loyalty benefits, rewards, protections or promotions that distinguish the offer. The merchant can lose consideration, and the customer can miss an option that better fits what they need.

Rachel Moore, SVP of Agentic Commerce, Payments & Incubation at Synchrony, gives merchants a practical way to assess their readiness: Can AI find, understand and accurately represent the full value of your offer?

She recommends starting in three places:

• See what AI sees. Test whether AI can find your products and services and represent your offer accurately.
• Make the full offer visible. Give agents current, understandable information about the benefits that distinguish your brand, including availability, service, financing, rewards and protections.
• Test where the recommendation takes shape. Use Synchrony’s Chat, Decide and Buy framework to identify where information or customer context may get lost.

Synchrony is helping partners assess their readiness, improve how agents find and interpret their offers and test experiences across Chat, Decide and Buy.

For practical steps brands can take now, read Rachel Moore's perspective: Three Steps to Help AI Find, Understand and Recommend Your Brand

Why agentic commerce needs to be built in the open

Even when an agent understands the full value of an offer, important information can be lost as the experience moves across platforms, merchants, issuers and payment providers.

Open standards can provide a common framework for exchanging product and offer information, establishing who an agent represents and verifying what the customer authorized it to do. Without that framework, separate systems become harder to connect and scale.

Mike Storiale, SVP of AI Technology & Transformation at Synchrony, explains why Synchrony believes agentic commerce should be built in the open.

Emerging standards address different needs across the shopping journey: connecting agents with systems and data, exchanging commerce and payment information and verifying what a customer asked an agent to do.

No single protocol can support the entire shopping journey. Product information, financing, rewards and offers need to move across platforms with reliable signals of identity, permission and authorization.

Synchrony is contributing to emerging standards and testing capabilities with partners to understand how financing and other customer benefits can become part of AI-driven shopping experiences securely and with permission.

See why open standards are essential to carrying the full value of an offer and trusted customer signals from recommendation through transaction: Why Trusted Agentic Commerce Has to Be Built in the Open.

Why getting this right matters

How much authority consumers give AI will depend in part on whether they trust the experience.

Research conducted by Oxford Economics with Synchrony found that 60% of consumers would pause or stop using AI after a poor recommendation. The findings also point to the importance of security, transparency and control as AI plays a larger role in shopping.

The research reinforces both priorities: agents need accurate information to make useful recommendations, and consumers need transparency and control as those recommendations lead to purchases.

Read more about what consumers expect from AI-powered shopping in Nimrod Barak's perspective: AI Shopping Will Go Only as Far as Consumers Trust It.

What businesses can do now

AI is already changing how people shop and the ecosystem is moving fast. Merchants can assess how agents interpret their offers and test where important information gets lost. Industry participants can advance open standards for exchanging that information securely while preserving consumer transparency and control.

Synchrony is helping partners prepare for AI-influenced shopping while contributing to emerging standards and testing how financing and other customer benefits can work across agentic experiences.

For businesses, two key questions emerge: Can AI understand the full value of your offer? And can that value move from recommendation through transaction without losing accuracy, security or consumer control?

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is AI changing how customers choose brands?
A: Customers can ask an AI assistant what to buy and use its recommendations to decide which options to consider before visiting a merchant’s website or reaching checkout. If the agent cannot find or understand the full value of a merchant’s offer, that brand could be left out of the recommendation.

Q: What does it mean for a merchant to be agent ready?
A: Being agent ready means AI can find, understand and accurately represent the full value of a merchant’s offer. That includes the product and price, along with benefits such as availability, service, financing, rewards, protections and promotions that may make an offer a better fit for a customer.

Q: What can merchants do now to prepare for AI shopping?
A: Merchants can test whether AI can find their products and services and accurately represent their offers. They can give agents current, understandable information about their full offer and use Synchrony’s Chat, Decide and Buy framework to identify where important information or customer context may get lost.

Q: Why do open standards matter for agentic commerce?
A: Building on open standards gives platforms, merchants, issuers and payment providers a common way to exchange product and offer information, identify who an agent represents and confirm what the customer authorized it to do. Companies can use different systems while exchanging information in a form others can understand. Different protocols address different needs across the shopping journey.

Q: Why is consumer trust important for AI shopping?
A: How much authority consumers give AI will depend in part on whether they trust the experience. Research conducted by Oxford Economics with Synchrony found that 60% of consumers would pause or stop using AI after a poor recommendation. Accurate recommendations, security, transparency and customer control matter as AI plays a larger role in shopping. Read more: AI Shopping Will Go Only as Far as Consumers Trust It.

Q: How is Synchrony helping partners prepare for agentic commerce?
A: Synchrony is helping partners test whether AI agents can find, understand and accurately represent their offers. Using Chat, Decide and Buy, partners can identify where information or customer context gets lost. Synchrony is also contributing to emerging standards and testing how financing and other customer benefits can work securely and with permission in AI shopping.