‘Agentic shopping’ could hit 13 million kirana stores, warns retail body AICPDF
AICPDF has urged the government to intervene, ensure strong data protection frameworks, promote fair competition, and safeguard the interests of traditional retailers and distributors.
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The All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF) has raised serious concerns over the rise of agentic shopping, warning that it could have far-reaching implications for livelihoods, employment, consumer privacy, and the integrity of India's traditional trade ecosystem.
AICPDF President Dhairyashil Patil issued the statement following OpenAI's recent announcement of its Instant Checkout feature on ChatGPT--a new "agentic shopping" tool that allows users to make single-item purchases directly from merchants through the AI platform. The feature currently supports Etsy sellers and is available in the US only for now.
Patil cautioned that before such features enter India, policymakers must assess their potential impact on small traders, especially the vulnerable kirana store owners and FMCG distributors.
"Agentic shopping may offer convenience to customers, but it threatens to disrupt traditional retail and general trade--which together represent 13 million kirana stores and over 450,000 FMCG distributors that form the backbone of India's consumer supply chain," he said.
Patil added that the existing dominance of e-commerce and quick commerce could further deepen, leading to significant unemployment in the retail industry.
Citing data security concerns, he warned that AI-driven commerce models collect a vast amount of consumer data, such as purchase patterns, payment details, and location, which could pose a serious risk of privacy breaches, commercial surveillance, and even national economic vulnerabilities.
AICPDF has urged the government to intervene, ensure strong data protection frameworks, promote fair competition, and safeguard the interests of traditional retailers and distributors.
"There's an urgent need to establish a dedicated board to monitor and regulate the impact of AI-driven commerce," Patil said. "Technological innovation must not come at the cost of livelihoods, employment, and consumer trust".
Notably, with growing industry momentum towards agentic shopping, Microsoft also launched a similar feature—the Copilot Merchant Program—in April this year, while another tech major, Perplexity AI, introduced an in-chat shopping and payments feature in 2024. This frictionless shopping experience has the potential to redefine online shopping — shifting away from traditional search engines like Google and e-commerce platforms toward AI-driven conversational agents that offer curated suggestions and instant checkout options.
In a blog post, OpenAI has mentioned that product results in ChatGPT are “organic and unsponsored, ranked purely on relevance to the user,” adding that it will charge merchants a “small fee” for completed transactions.
