According to a PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa Acceptance Solutions report based on a March 2026 survey of 1,185 retail merchants in the United States, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, merchants report that shopping is spreading across apps, websites, physical stores and AI-powered agents. The report finds that mobile apps are becoming a leading growth channel and that apps more often offer features such as biometrics, stored credentials, autofill and one-click checkout. PYMNTS reports that nearly nine in 10 merchants say their checkout experiences still need improvement and that many worry their payment technology may not meet market needs within three years. The report also finds merchants generally view AI agents as an opportunity but that most cannot clearly identify AI-driven traffic and purchases, creating an attribution gap. PYMNTS additionally reports that more than half of merchants use discounts, surcharges or both to influence payment choice.
What happened
The PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa Acceptance Solutions collaboration published a report based on a March 2026 survey of 1,185 retail merchants in the United States, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates. The report documents that merchants are operating across multiple channels, apps, websites, physical stores and emerging AI-powered agents, and that mobile apps are reported as a primary growth channel owing to checkout conveniences such as biometrics, stored credentials, autofill and one-click checkout, per PYMNTS. The report states that nearly nine in 10 merchants say their checkout experiences still need improvement and that many expect current payment technology may not meet market needs within three years, according to PYMNTS.
Technical details
The PYMNTS report highlights a visibility challenge: merchants generally view AI agents as a source of future sales, loyalty and payment influence, but most merchants cannot clearly identify both AI-driven traffic and AI-driven purchases today, per PYMNTS. The report also documents merchant risk and payment management behaviors, noting that more than half of merchants use discounts, surcharges or both to influence payment method choice and that reported fraud pressures have eased since the prior survey while interest in stronger fraud protection remains, according to PYMNTS.
Editorial analysis - technical context
Industry-pattern observations: AI agents redirecting discovery and checkout tend to break existing attribution models because agents can aggregate offers and complete purchases off-channel. Companies undertaking comparable transitions often need improved instrumentation across attribution, tokenized credentials and consented data flows to measure agent-driven conversions accurately.
Context and significance
Editorial analysis: For payment and commerce practitioners, the report underscores a practical gap between expectation and visibility. While merchants view AI agents as an opportunity, the lack of attribution capability means payment teams, fraud teams and analytics teams may be undercounting agent-influenced revenue and misestimating payment method economics.
What to watch
Editorial analysis: Observers should follow development of agent-level attribution standards, merchant adoption of credentialed checkouts and partnerships between payments vendors and agent platforms. Metrics to monitor include changes in app conversion lift, the share of purchases flagged as agent-influenced once new instrumentation is deployed, and shifts in surcharge or discount usage tied to payment-method economics.
Scoring Rationale #
A large, well-designed survey (1,185 merchants, three countries) documenting the attribution gap between AI-driven traffic and measurable merchant outcomes. Relevant to AI/DS practitioners in commerce and payments but a sector snapshot rather than a technical advance or major deployment.
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