The rapid growth of AI-powered shopping assistants is forcing retailers to rethink how they maintain direct relationships with customers, according to payments company Adyen.
AI agents are increasingly able to recommend products, choose sellers and even initiate payments without requiring consumers to visit a retailer’s website directly. That shift could weaken the customer relationships merchants traditionally rely on for repeat purchases and brand loyalty.
Adyen co-CEO Pieter van der Does said retailers are becoming more focused on protecting direct sales channels as more consumers begin product searches through AI chatbots rather than traditional websites or search engines.
To address this trend, Adyen has expanded its services beyond payments. The company recently introduced infrastructure for AI-agent transactions and acquired loyalty software firm Talon.One and billing provider Orb, strengthening its ability to help merchants retain customers.
The company is also seeing increased demand from AI businesses themselves, with OpenAI recently becoming an Adyen customer.
At the same time, AI growth is increasing infrastructure costs. Adyen is accelerating spending on computing and storage capacity as hardware prices rise and supply remains tight.
