AI Agents in E-Commerce
Central Europe consists of heterogeneous e-commerce markets, many of them at different stages of development. Their progress also defines how far agentic commerce still has to go.
Nadine Koutsou-Wehling
Data Journalist
July 27, 2026
Market Trends
Where does Central Europe stand when it comes to agentic commerce? The expectation is that a fully autonomous agent will predict needs and carry out purchases with only minimal supervision. But the reality still looks different.
To track this development, we mapped agentic commerce adoption across six stages.
Ground Zero: No meaningful agentic commerce activity in the market
Research: Agents search, compare, and recommend products
Find: Agents locate and match specific products to shopper criteria
Buy: Agents complete purchases on a shopper's behalf
Advanced Buy: Agents manage recurring purchases and replenishment
Full Autonomy: Agents operate independently across the full purchase journey
In Central Europe, the stage of development depends entirely on market conditions. Some markets are further along, some behind. That is why we break adoption down by stage rather than treating the region as one market.
Most Central European markets sit at the Research stage. AI agents can search, compare, and recommend products. Their ability to complete purchases is still limited.
The real transformation begins at the later stages. There, agents move beyond recommendations. They buy products, manage recurring purchases, and handle replenishment with only limited human intervention.
That reality is still years ahead. Today's innovators sit somewhere in the middle. For early adopters, the agent can already add products to the cart, check availability, and compare prices. Innovators go one step further. Here, the agent can complete the payment and checkout process automatically.
In most Central European markets, buying capabilities remain strictly limited. Not all mainstream providers in the region offer AI agents checkout capabilities. The gap between early majority research assistants and pre-market autonomous agents is where today's innovators have a significant head start.
The two last stages of development is what today's players are building towards and what mainstream adoption will look like once all markets have caught up. This shift is already underway.
The question now is who moves the needle on agentic adoption. Those are going to be the retailers ahead of this development.
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