These solutions power automation in functions such as merchandising, marketing, store operations and fulfillment, the company said in a Thursday (Jan. 8) press release.
“With Microsoft’s agentic AI, retailers can automate what slows them down and amplify what sets them apart, enabling faster decisions and stronger customer relationships while building operations ready for whatever comes next,” Kathleen Mitford, corporate vice president of global industry at Microsoft, said in the release.
One new solution, Copilot Checkout, enables merchants to sell products to consumers within Copilot, without the shopper being directed to an external site. This offering is now available in the United States on Copilot.com and merchants can onboard to it through partners that include Shopify, PayPal and Stripe.
A PayPal executive said in a Thursday press release that PayPal’s collaboration with Microsoft “marks another step forward in our strategy to support merchants and consumers in AI-powered shopping experiences.”
Two other new solutions from Microsoft add agentic commerce to websites owned by retailers, according to the Microsoft press release. These include Brand Agents, which is a turnkey solution available for merchants on the Shopify platform, and the personalized shopping agent template in Copilot Studio, which provides a fully customizable framework for retailers.
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A catalog enrichment agent template is now in public preview in Copilot Studio. This solution is an intelligent assistant that transforms merchants’ product data into enriched, structured data better suited to agentic commerce.
Another solution now in public preview in Copilot Studio is a store operations agent template that provides store leaders and associates with a natural language interface that answers questions about inventory availability and store policies, orchestrates workflows, and delivers recommendations for staffing, key performance indicators and operational priorities.
“Microsoft’s new agentic AI solutions mark a turning point in the era of agentic AI for retailers, giving them the tools to anticipate change, operate more efficiently and deliver experiences that truly reflect their brand values,” the company said in the release.
PYMNTS reported in January 2025 that tech companies had begun rolling out AI-powered retail solutions that marked a shift from generative AI to agentic AI, where AI systems don’t just generate responses but actively perform complex tasks with minimal human intervention.
In August, PYMNTS reported that AI agents were being embedded into everyday shopping and enterprise workflows and were holding out the promise of hands-off commerce for both consumers and businesses.
