Agentic AI is not the future of commerce media—it is already a reality. It is shaping how consumers shop and how brands reach them. The key question now is: how exactly will it change the shopping journey, and who will emerge as winners in this new environment?

To understand how this shift is actually progressing across the industry, we surveyed 750 consumers and 150 senior commerce media leaders in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The findings, published as "The State of Agentic Commerce (Media): How Agentic AI is Reshaping Control, Value, and Monetization," reveal a market already in dynamic evolution. 75% of U.S. consumers say they are open to AI assistance in selecting products, reflecting the rapid and widespread acceptance this technology has gained in just a few years. The data also shows that as shoppers increasingly use AI, their acceptance of it continues to grow.

At the same time, consumers draw a clear distinction between "agentic shopping" and "agentic purchasing." They are comfortable with AI helping them research products, compare options, identify better deals, and narrow down choices, but they are hesitant about AI completing transactions entirely without their approval. Advertisers and commerce media network operators show a similar pattern: most want agentic AI to handle the bulk of the work, but with built-in human approval steps.

As a result, AI is fundamentally changing the sources of advantage in commerce media. The strategies, capabilities, and infrastructure that defined success over the past decade are being replaced by new elements.

At Koddi, we have been positioning ourselves for this moment. We power commerce media for some of the world's largest retailers and e-commerce platforms. Our research reveals an insight the industry has not fully articulated: commerce media is evolving into a "decision economy," where the model shifts from exposure based on visible ad placements to influence within AI systems. In an agentic world, what matters most is no longer the ad position on a page, but whether you are included by the AI systems that increasingly determine what consumers are recommended.

The following rules will determine how to win in commerce media within an agentic AI environment.

Rule One: Consumers want AI to do the research, but not to make the decision

Shoppers are indeed willing to let AI filter, compare, and shortlist products, but they refuse to let AI directly access their wallets. Although 64% of consumers are in favor of AI recommending brands they would not normally consider, only 20% feel comfortable with AI acting independently. Completing a purchase without approval would be the biggest trust breaker, according to 55% of consumers.

Therefore, the opportunity in agentic commerce lies in the research and recommendation layer, where consumer acceptance is high and they are genuinely open to AI-mediated brand discovery. This is also the area where integrated commerce media platforms that can seamlessly connect data and decisions can exert significant influence.

Rule Two: Influence replaces ad placement

AI adds an entirely new layer between brands and consumers: the candidate list. Products not presented during the AI-mediated discovery process are virtually invisible to that shopper.

The industry has recognized this. In our survey, 84% of commerce media leaders said they will invest in opportunities to enhance their visibility within AI-generated answers and recommendations, with 61% already allocating funds from performance advertising and paid search budgets.

These opportunities include paid inclusion in candidate lists and sponsored recommendation slots, but also involve less visible elements such as data feedback, integrations with AI agents, and cross-agent orchestration tools that enable brands to operate across platforms.

Rule Three: Full automation is not the goal

The overwhelming preference across the industry is for AI to provide insights and recommendations, with humans making the final decisions. In our survey, only 3% of commerce media leaders prefer an environment where AI has nearly complete freedom and employees are mainly limited to oversight and compliance. Full autonomy is not where the market is heading.

The companies that lead in agentic commerce will not necessarily be the most automated, but rather those that build infrastructure enabling human-AI collaboration to scale reliably across networks, protocols, and data environments. Koddi's AI tools are designed precisely for this, delivering real-time diagnostics, automation, and direct action within the existing workflows and access controls of commerce media teams.

Rule Four: Measurement is key to agentic commerce becoming serious

As agentic AI is poised to reshape the shopping journey, new measurement and attribution methods are clearly indispensable. In our research, 33% of respondents said gaps in these systems are currently hindering investment. The study shows that one-third of advertisers plan to allocate between $250,000 and $1 million to agentic AI products over the next 12 months. At this level of investment, they need to prove return on investment.

Fragmentation compounds this challenge. Different ecosystems have different data feedback structures, checkout processes, and attribution models. Organizations operating across multiple networks need to solve multiple measurement problems simultaneously. 92% of respondents plan to invest in agent-specific measurement and diagnostic tools, and 80% are willing to invest in measurement tools related to AI-mediated journeys. Companies that crack the attribution puzzle first in a fragmented environment will have evidence for continued expansion, while others will stagnate.

The Next Wave

Commerce media is shifting from "surface" to "system," and organizations that successfully make this transition share one common trait: they are investing in the infrastructure that agentic commerce truly requires to operate.

Currently, most organizations are using AI within existing frameworks and systems to support or assist decision-making. But the next wave of innovation is already emerging. Over the next 18 months, we will see the market shift toward new monetization models and advertiser products designed specifically for agentic environments. This is where the competitive advantage will be won.

Koddi has been operating at the intersection of commerce media and AI for over a decade, managing billions of dollars in media spend for some of the world's largest retailers, e-commerce platforms, and travel platforms. We are not watching from the sidelines as agentic AI reshapes commerce media—we are in the midst of it, helping brands and networks move from "visibility" to "selectability," from "ad placement" to "influence," and from "impressions" to "outcomes." The decision economy has arrived, and the gap between companies that understand this trend and those that do not is widening by the day.