China’s tech titans are escalating their artificial intelligence pursuits, entering a new frontier dubbed ‘agentic commerce.’ Companies like Alibaba and ByteDance are aggressively developing chatbots that transcend mere conversational tools, transforming them into comprehensive platforms capable of managing shopping expeditions and facilitating payments.
Alibaba recently upgraded its Qwen AI chatbot, empowering users to finalize transactions directly within the chat interface, covering everything from food orders to flight bookings. This enhancement seamlessly integrates Qwen into Alibaba’s expansive e-commerce network. Users can now compare personalized product recommendations from platforms such as Taobao and the travel site Fliggy, and complete their purchases via Alipay, all without leaving the Qwen application. Previously, Qwen could offer suggestions based on user prompts, but the purchasing process still required manual navigation across different platforms.
This evolution signals a significant industry shift, moving beyond foundational AI models toward “agentic AI.” This form of AI operates autonomously on behalf of users, executing tasks with minimal oversight. Shaochen Wang, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research, highlights that “the agentic transformation of commercial services enables the maximal integration of user services and enhances user stickiness.” This, in turn, allows companies to cultivate a sustainable competitive advantage, often referred to as a business moat, which shields their profitability from market rivals.
While agentic AI holds promise across diverse sectors, from autonomous driving to cybersecurity, e-commerce is rapidly emerging as one of its most prominent early applications. Leading U.S. payment and technology firms have also introduced their initial iterations of agentic commerce solutions in recent months.
Wang posits that Alibaba is exceptionally well-positioned to lead in agentic commerce within China. This advantage stems from its sophisticated large language model capabilities and its extensive e-commerce infrastructure, which encompasses a wide range of consumer needs from apparel and groceries to housing and travel.
This strategic move by Alibaba could bolster its competitive standing against rival super-apps like Tencent’s WeChat. WeChat, widely recognized as China’s premier super-app, consolidates messaging, payments, e-commerce, and various other services into a single platform used by over a billion individuals.
Other Chinese technology companies are also demonstrating swift progress. In December, ByteDance enhanced its popular Doubao AI chatbot, enabling it to autonomously handle tasks such as booking tickets through integrations with e-commerce functionalities on Douyin, the Chinese iteration of TikTok. The upgraded Doubao model was showcased on a prototype smartphone developed by ZTE Corp, functioning as a comprehensive AI assistant capable of managing tasks across a user’s mobile device. However, certain planned features for Doubao were reportedly scaled back following privacy and security concerns raised by competitors.
Tencent President Martin Lau indicated during the company’s May 2025 earnings call that AI agents could become integral components of the WeChat ecosystem. Charlie Dai, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, commented, “AI agents will be foundational to the evolution of super apps, with success depending on deep integration across payments, logistics, and social engagement.”
Dai further observed that while Chinese firms such as Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are vying for dominance in embedding agents across their platforms, they all benefit from established integrated ecosystems, a wealth of behavioral data, and established consumer familiarity with super-apps. Western companies, despite their leadership in foundational AI models and global reach, contend with more fragmented data landscapes and stringent privacy regulations, which can impede cross-service integration.
In the U.S., companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Amazon are actively pursuing agentic commerce. Google is also exploring avenues to position itself as a central “matchmaker” connecting merchants, consumers, and AI agents. Dai anticipates that “China will prioritize domestic integration and strategic expansion in selected regions, while U.S. firms focus on global scalability and governance.”
A 2025 McKinsey study revealed that approximately half of all consumers are already leveraging AI in their online searches. The report projects that AI agents could generate over $1 trillion in economic value for U.S. businesses by 2030 by streamlining crucial yet routine steps in the consumer decision-making process.
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