Salesforce has announced a collaboration with Stripe and OpenAI to develop an Instant Checkout integration for Agentforce Commerce using the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP).
The newly established partnership centres on deploying conversational AI to streamline the purchasing process, enhancing both consumer experience and operational efficiency for retailers leveraging Salesforce's Agentforce Commerce solution. The ACP, jointly developed by Stripe and OpenAI, provides the foundation for these new capabilities.
Changing shopping behaviours
Recent research published by Salesforce suggests that nearly half of shoppers using AI are receptive to having an AI agent make purchases autonomously on their behalf. This reflects the changing preferences of online consumers and signals a growing acceptance of agentic commerce, where AI agents manage transactions.
Salesforce described this development as a significant shift from traditional online shopping models, with implications for how retailers engage and retain customers. The company stated that the introduction of ACP is intended to redefine these relationships by making interactions more tailored and purchases more efficient.
The Agentic Commerce Protocol
According to Salesforce, the ACP offers a standardised framework through which brands and retailers can deploy AI agents to manage customer interactions and facilitate instant checkouts. The goal is to allow merchants to capture demand at the point of discovery and accelerate the path to purchase.
The Instant Checkout integration with Agentforce Commerce and Stripe aims to give consumers payment flexibility, including options like Link, Stripe's consumer payments product. This is intended to simplify the integration process and reduce the costs and resources typically required for custom eCommerce implementations.
Stripe's infrastructure will support the payment process, providing a secure platform for transactions within agentic commerce. Together, Stripe and Salesforce plan to offer merchants tools for managing digital storefronts while maintaining control of customer relationships and commerce workflows.
"Through our collaboration with Stripe and OpenAI on the ACP, we are delivering the unified system designed for the future of agentic commerce, creating a dramatically faster and more personalised path to purchase. This fundamental shift empowers our merchants to drive revenue growth and build deeper customer loyalty across a platform where shoppers already reside," said Nitin Mangtani, GM of Commerce Cloud and Retail at Salesforce.
Merchant benefits
Salesforce outlined several anticipated benefits for businesses adopting the integration. These include a more efficient and personalised shopping journey for consumers, which is expected to boost satisfaction and loyalty. The streamlining of the purchase process through AI agent involvement is also projected to increase sales and conversion rates.
The automation of sales cycle tasks, such as product discovery and checkout, could allow retailers to allocate resources elsewhere, improving operational efficiency. Salesforce also sees opportunities for businesses to generate new revenue streams using the AI agent approach. Early adoption of agentic commerce may support a more robust business position in an evolving digital retail sector.
Stripe's perspective
"We're excited to partner with Salesforce to help merchants using Agentforce Commerce thrive in the agentic commerce era. Together with OpenAI, we're enabling businesses to reach millions of new buyers by helping turn discovery into purchase inside ChatGPT." - Maia Josebachvili, Chief Revenue Officer of AI, Stripe
The partnership between Salesforce and Stripe, with OpenAI's involvement, reflects Stripe's continued commitment to supporting digital businesses with programmable financial services infrastructure. The integration builds on an existing relationship, extending efforts already made through the Salesforce Payments initiative.
Developing agentic commerce
Salesforce plans to further support customers as they begin adopting agentic commerce solutions on both their own and third-party platforms. The Guided Shopping experience for Agentforce Commerce enables retailers to implement AI-powered shopper agents on their digital storefronts. These agents are designed to provide product recommendations, answer customer enquiries, support checkout, order tracking, and facilitate returns within a single conversational interface.
The implementation is intended to create a consistent and high-value brand experience, potentially contributing to increased cart sizes and conversion rates. By integrating with other Salesforce solutions within Customer 360, such as Agentforce Marketing, Service, Order Management, and Data 360, businesses may achieve greater personalisation at scale.
Through this development, Salesforce and its partners intend to provide businesses with the tools necessary to offer seamless, AI-powered commerce experiences across channels and digital environments.
