Merchants See AI Shopping Coming, But Checkout Is Still The Weak Link

Apps Are Becoming The Checkout Battleground

Retailers are preparing for a shopping market where consumers move between apps, websites, physical stores and AI-powered agents.

The 2026 Global Digital Shopping Index: Merchant Edition used responses from 1,185 retail merchants during March 2026, with the sample covering the United States, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.

That gives the data a Gulf link rather than a purely US retail lens.

The useful finding is not that merchants like mobile apps.

It is that apps are becoming one of the channels where checkout design can change sales outcomes.

More merchants reported sales gains through apps than through any other measured channel, and apps were more likely than websites to support biometrics, stored credentials, autofill and one-click checkout.

The channel comparison matters because those features sit directly inside the buying path.

Biometrics can shorten authentication, stored credentials can reduce repeat entry, autofill can remove form friction and one-click checkout can collapse the last payment step.

The survey does not say every merchant has solved those pieces.

It says app-based commerce is where those pieces are being tested more visibly.

Those details point to a practical payments problem.

If customers are moving through app-based buying flows, merchants need fast authentication, reliable stored credentials and fewer checkout interruptions.

A better mobile storefront does little if the payment step still sends shoppers into extra forms, failed credentials or weak recovery paths.

AI Agents Add A Visibility Problem

The AI-agent angle is not yet a proof of agent-driven commerce at scale.

Merchants generally expect agents to influence sales, loyalty and payment choice, but most cannot clearly identify both AI-driven traffic and AI-driven purchases today.

That gap makes attribution the hard part.

A merchant can see a completed order.

It is harder to know whether an AI assistant found the product, compared offers, chose a payment method or pushed the customer to a specific channel.

Without that visibility, retailers may struggle to decide whether agent traffic deserves different incentives, different fraud controls or different checkout paths.

The survey also gives the UAE a place in the operating question.

Country samples were weighted and stratified so SMBs and large merchants were represented on nationally relevant scales.

For UAE merchants and payment providers, the issue is not only whether AI shopping arrives.

It is whether local payment stacks can read the difference between an ordinary app user and demand shaped by an agent.

Payment Choice Is Already Being Managed

Merchants are not waiting for AI agents before changing payment behavior.

More than half already use discounts, surcharges or both to steer customers toward particular payment methods.

That is a direct sign that payment choice is becoming a margin and risk-management tool, not just a checkout preference.

The same data leaves a caution.

Merchants reported less fraud pressure than in the earlier survey, yet demand for stronger protection remained high.

Faster checkout and one-click payment features can improve conversion, but they also raise the standard for identity, token management and transaction screening.

That balance matters for merchants in app-heavy retail categories.

Biometrics and stored credentials can remove friction, but customers still expect the payment step to be safe, reversible when needed and consistent across channels.

If AI agents begin steering more product discovery, retailers will need fraud tools and attribution systems that can keep up with faster, less visible journeys.

The Three-Year Clock Is A Payments Deadline

Nearly nine in 10 merchants said the checkout layer still needs work, and many said payment technology now in place could fall short of market needs within three years.

That is the clearest operating deadline in the survey.

For payment processors, app platforms and UAE retailers, the next evidence will be concrete rather than promotional: cleaner agent attribution, fewer checkout failures, measurable app sales gains, better fraud controls and pricing tools that do not push customers away.

The survey shows merchants know AI shopping is coming into the purchase path.

It also shows that checkout plumbing, not chatbot excitement, will decide whether that shift turns into completed transactions.