Mastercard Makes It Easier for Merchants to Sell With AI Shopping Agents

Mastercard is giving merchants a simpler way to connect their products and payments with AI shopping agents. Its new Agent Connect service will link merchants, AI agents, digital platforms and payment providers through a single integration. Businesses can choose which AI services can access their products while retaining control over pricing, fulfilment and customer relationships. Mastercard is also expanding Agent Suite for Merchants. The service helps businesses add AI shopping tools to their websites and apps, share product information with participating platforms and connect with third-party agents. Merchants can make product details, prices and availability accessible to AI agents. The agents can then find products, recommend them and confirm the final cost of a purchase. AI Agents Can Complete Authorised Purchases Mastercard will make Anthropic’s commerce agent blueprint available through the suite. This will let merchants build shopping agents using Claude models and Mastercard’s payment capabilities. Agent Connect will support payment credentials from any network. Mastercard transactions can also use Agent Pay to verify that the customer authorised the purchase. Castlery, Fiserv, Global Payments, Network International, Trip.com and several other companies plan to use Agent Suite for Merchants. Mastercard will initially launch Agent Connect in the United States. It has not disclosed when the service will reach other markets. Jorn Lambert “AI agents will change the buying interface again, shifting commerce from search and discovery to checkout and disputes. We’re helping businesses prepare for that future while keeping them in control of their destiny through the same principles that have always made commerce work at scale: trust, interoperability, security and reach.” said Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Frolopiaton Palm via Magnific The post Mastercard Makes It Easier for Merchants to Sell With AI Shopping Agents appeared first on Fintech Singapore.