Stefan Hamann / Agentic Commerce
From the first articles on shopping agents in June 2023 and the January 2025 whitepaper to the Lab and the new book. Follow the development through the original sources.
Agentic commerce describes commerce in which AI agents carry out tasks for people or businesses. They find suitable products, compare offers and prepare a purchase or execute it within an authorised scope. Merchants make product data, carts and order processes available through accessible interfaces.
My publications explore this development from a founder’s and developer’s perspective. At Shopware’s Agentic Commerce Labs, we test concrete workflows and open interfaces. The book brings together strategy, technical foundations and this practical work.
German edition
English edition
Agentic Commerce / 2023–today
Since June 2023, I have been writing about how AI agents change commerce. My article on “Agentic eCommerce” and first whitepaper follow in January 2025. Today, that work comes together in the Lab and the new book.
Early theses. Original publications. Open practice.
Early theses
I describe AI agents for routine purchases, personal buying assistants and individually composed shopping experiences.
Later in practice In 2025, delegated purchasing becomes a limited beta with Amazon’s Buy for Me, after customer confirmation. Amazon
Architecture
My expectation: agents coordinate tasks through APIs while specialised commerce systems keep doing their jobs.
Later in practice In 2025, ACP follows this pattern: the agent connects buyer and merchant; orders, payments and fulfilment remain with the merchant. OpenAI / Stripe
The term
A dedicated article puts a name to the perspective: autonomous specialist agents, self-optimising stores and new ways to differentiate.
First whitepaper
My first substantial whitepaper on Agentic Commerce takes shape. The original version dated 21 January connects AI autonomy, merchant operations and competition.
From thesis to code
I present our ACP implementation for Shopware and a working PayPal prototype. The agent-driven purchasing journey becomes something we can test.
Agentic Commerce Labs
At Shopware, we develop and test shopping agents, open protocols and new merchant tools. In the Lab, ideas become reference implementations, prototypes and shared learning.
The new book
My new book connects the early theses with strategy, technology and Lab practice. 21 chapters on commerce with agents, freely available in German and English online and as a PDF.
Dates link to my original articles and sources. January 2025 dates the whitepaper’s creation, not a proven day of first public release. The Lab’s 2026 entry describes documented work, not its founding date. The early theses document my perspective; they do not establish a worldwide first use of the term.
The original texts
The original English texts are archived here with images and their original publication dates. Each article also links to the LinkedIn original.