Chinese Tech Giants Push Era of Agentic Commerce

Chinese tech giants including Alibaba and ByteDance are accelerating a shift toward what industry analysts call “agentic commerce” — a new phase of digital shopping powered by AI agents that don’t just answer questions but take action on behalf of users. Agentic commerce refers to intelligent systems that can discover, decide and complete purchases and payments autonomously, fundamentally transforming how commerce works online.

At the forefront of this movement is Alibaba’s upgraded Qwen AI app, which now goes well beyond traditional chatbot responses. The enhanced version allows users to place orders, apply promotions and even complete payments right within the conversational interface, effectively turning Qwen into a full‑service shopping and payment platform embedded in Alibaba’s vast ecosystem.

Alibaba’s integration of Qwen across services such as food delivery, travel booking, and e‑commerce signifies a significant strategic push into agentic capabilities. By embedding the assistant into real transactional flows, Alibaba aims to streamline the consumer journey — letting AI agents handle routine tasks so users can bypass multiple apps and checkout steps.

While Alibaba leads with consumer‑facing deployments, competitors are also staking ground. ByteDance, owner of TikTok, is expanding its AI offerings and infrastructure through its cloud arm and agent‑oriented tools focused on enterprise and consumer scenarios, reflecting a broader competitive drive in China’s AI commerce landscape.

Industry insiders note that agentic commerce carries both opportunity and complexity: these intelligent agents promise frictionless transactions and personalized shopping paths, but also require new payment standards, identity safeguards, and consumer trust frameworks before mainstream adoption.

As Chinese tech leaders embed agentic AI deeper into commerce, they signal a future where AI not only recommends products but actually buys them for you, reshaping the economics and experience of digital retail.

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