Consumers welcome agentic commerce in MENA

Could bots be your new retail assistants? Technology maturation and industry regulation are not the only factors to answer that question. Whether your customers want this from you or not really matters. Seven in ten (70%) global merchants say agentic commerce will be the most disruptive force their industry has ever seen. But consumers have yet to decide.

Just as virtual and augmented reality took years to evolve into useful tools for retail and fashion, AI agents are only beginning to find their function in the digital economy.

The first signs are positive. We commissioned three major surveys into consumer attitudes on agentic commerce over the past year, and found a positive – if somewhat cautious – sentiment.

Curious and optimistic

Our MENA Digital Commerce 2026 report found 65% of consumers in the region are familiar with agentic AI, defined as artificial intelligence systems that take actions on a person’s behalf, such as making decisions, completing tasks, or purchasing items.

Half of MENA consumers say they are comfortable with AI shopping on their behalf, highlighting strong potential for future adoption.

In the UAE, where 77% are familiar with it, consumers only want a few reassurances before they’d be willing to try it. Just 2% said nothing would make them more confident in using an AI shopping agent regularly, indicating a general openness. Clearly, today’s shoppers feel broadly optimistic.

Strong privacy and safeguards are, of course, a top priority. Two in five (42%) MENA shoppers said such protections would make them more comfortable allowing an agent to spend their money.

Saving time

Speed matters. Most online shoppers want to go from inspiration to purchase as quickly as possible: 68% in the UAE and 65% in Saudi Arabia.

As an online merchant, you are constantly balancing the need for a speedy purchase journey with safeguards like security and fraud prevention – in addition to the barriers of costs and legacy technology. Could agentic commerce become the new way your customers buy products and services faster than they did before?

One in five think so: 21% of UAE consumers said saving time when shopping would be their main motivation for using an AI agent. A further 17% said they’d hope it would stop them doom-scrolling on shopping apps. Barriers to purchasing – such as being overwhelmed by choices, getting distracted or simply lost in the browsing experience – don’t apply to bots. So, for adults that really want to buy something, the agentic assistant seems genuinely helpful.

Desire for clarity

Buying something online has been possible since 1994. But buying through an AI agent? It’s a futuristic technology that few have ever experienced. As this technology is so new, it’s understandable that people simply want to know how it works. 

One in three consumers in MENA (32%) said full transparency on how decisions are made would make them feel more comfortable letting AI agents spend their money. In the UAE, 26% said a clear record of what they approved and what it purchased – an audit trail – would give them confidence in using it regularly.

In MENA overall, 28% want a clear track record of accurate or helpful recommendations. This suggests the ability to store purchase suggestions is meaningful to consumers, who may want time to think over or compare their options from multiple merchants.

A quarter of shoppers in the UAE would lose confidence in it if they did not understand why the AI made a particular choice.

Openness about price matters, too. In the UAE, 35% said surprise costs such as delivery fees would damage confidence in AI shopping agents.

Need for control

A large proportion of consumers prioritize their ability to direct and restrain how their agentic assistant can spend. Two in five (39%) of MENA adults would want the ability to approve or reject purchases before they are final. A third want clear spending limits they can set and adjust.

Interestingly, a quarter of consumers in the UAE (24%) would feel more confident if their AI agent could only buy from retailers or brands they have pre-approved. This is a good indication for merchants and marketplaces to invest in their own agentic systems. Brand quality and trust is still a highly relevant factor in purchase decision-making in the agentic era.

There is also a place for novelty, though. A further 20% of UAE consumers said they would most want to use AI agents to discover new brands or products they otherwise wouldn’t find. 

The importance of cost-saving

Unsurprisingly, price plays a huge role in online purchase decisions – even using an AI agent. Indeed, half of MENA consumers want to use an AI agent to find the best price for an item. This was the most popular use case – showing how budgeting is a top priority for online shoppers today.

71% of consumers in the UAE are open to their AI agent choosing an alternative brand if it’s more cost-effective. One in five said sticking to financial goals would be a main motivation to use an agentic shopping agent. A quarter (26%) said they would stop using the tech if it selected a more expensive option than necessary.

Concerns about potential mistakes

A third (35%) of shoppers in the UAE said their confidence in an agent would be harmed most by the AI repeatedly getting their preferences wrong (e.g. the size, brand, or style). This is understandable, as a major motivation for using agents is to make life easier and save time. 

Alongside the curiosity to try out this new tech comes worry over the possibility of errors. A quarter of UAE consumers said that not being able to understand why the AI made a particular choice would most reduce their confidence. Roughly one in four (27%) said the agent buying something they did not authorize would harm trust the most.

Help when things go wrong

Of course, shoppers want help if using an AI agent leads to problems.

Two in five (38%) of consumers in MENA said the ability to easily reverse or return purchases would make them more comfortable using it. This is not so different from existing customer expectations: 84% of international consumers said a simple and reliable returns process is important when they’re buying from other countries online.

More specifically, a quarter (27%) of adults in the UAE said they want a clear understanding of who will pay to fix the mistake if something goes wrong with an agentic purchase. One in four UAE consumers want a clear, simple way to dispute purchases and resolve problems involving an AI agent, with a guaranteed response time. 

Merchant perspectives, demographics and category preferences

For more insights into agentic commerce attitudes, readiness, and security considerations – from both merchants and consumers – download our new report on agentic commerce. This research covers multiple global regions: the US, Brazil, the UK, France, the UAE, and China.

Checkout.com is trusted by leading brands in MENA and beyond, including duPay, Netflix, SHEIN, Sony, Tamara, and Uber. For the latest analysis of the digital economy in the region, including guidance on how to adapt to current trends impacting buyer behavior, download MENA Digital Commerce 2026: The New Era of AI in Payments.