a16z: Major e-commerce platforms restrict AI shopping agents; consumer trust remains low

According to Moses Sternstein, a researcher at a16z, in his weekly newsletter “This Week in Charts,” agentic commerce is facing resistance, as major e-commerce platforms like Amazon have begun blocking AI shopping agents. Cloudflare data shows that since this past summer, the proportion of AI agents and crawlers receiving “403 Forbidden” responses has roughly doubled compared to previous levels. The article suggests that e-commerce platforms are concerned about losing customer relationships and advertising revenue, as well as fraud and returns. Data from the National Retail Federation (NRF) indicates that since 2019, e-commerce return rates have nearly doubled, and the total cost of returns has increased by approximately threefold.
Consumers also have concerns. About 25% of respondents are willing to let AI purchase most consumer goods (excluding luxury items), but 42% completely distrust AI placing orders on their behalf. Similarweb’s clickstream data shows that consumers primarily use AI during the middle stage of shopping to compare products and prices, with the final purchase decision still made by themselves.