China is at the forefront of a new era in digital commerce known as agentic commerce, where artificial intelligence (AI) agents are moving beyond simply assisting users to actively executing tasks on their behalf. This development is driven by a unique combination of infrastructure, consumer behavior, and regulatory factors.
The Rise of AI Delegation
Meituan’s launch of its Xiaomei AI agent in late 2025 marked a significant turning point. Xiaomei isn’t just a chatbot; it’s an orchestrator capable of independent execution. This embodies the core principle of agentic commerce – AI agents performing tasks within pre-defined boundaries.
This allows for true delegation, where a user can request a change, such as a delayed delivery, and the agent autonomously handles the entire process with minimal user interaction. China is rapidly becoming a crucial testing ground for scaling this delegation to a national level.
From Assistance to Execution
Research, based on fieldwork and insights from platform executives, reveals that agentic commerce represents a fundamental shift from user-driven to agent-driven execution. This isn’t due to superior AI models in China, but rather its existing infrastructure that supports delegated actions in everyday life.
A New Value Proposition
As agents filter, compare, and act on behalf of users, the focus shifts from persuasion to machine-readable trust and operational dependability. Current digital commerce largely focuses on assistance – tools that aid decision-making, like Amazon’s recommendations or Google’s search results.
Agentic commerce fundamentally alters this by reallocating responsibility. Users delegate tasks to an AI agent, intervening only at specific checkpoints. This transforms innovation from individual features to complete workflows, and from user execution to agent execution.
Platform Experimentation
Several Chinese platforms are actively experimenting with agentic commerce, employing diverse designs.
- Meituan’s Xiaomei: Focuses on closed-loop execution within its platform for localized services.
- Alibaba’s Qwen: Coordinates tasks across Taobao, Alipay, and Amap, reverting to human control for complex decisions.
- Ant Group’s AQ: Facilitates insurance verification and appointment scheduling in the health sector.
- ByteDance’s Doubao: Pushes delegation to the operating system level, enabling agents to interpret screen context and execute actions across apps.
- A well-established permission infrastructure
- Substantial execution capacity
- Effective ecosystem orchestration
- A receptive consumer base
- A strategic regulatory approach
Challenges and Risk Controls
Cross-app execution presents challenges related to security, control, distribution, data, and monetization, leading to stricter risk controls from companies like Alibaba and Tencent. The core issue revolves around permissions, incentives, and value capture.
China’s Unique Advantage
China’s advantage isn’t rooted in advanced AI, but in its robust infrastructure. Five key conditions converge in the Chinese market:
Widespread adoption of mobile payment systems like Alipay and WeChat Pay has integrated payments and identity verification into daily life, streamlining delegation. The regulatory environment has also been relatively supportive of innovation in this space.
Implications for Global Businesses
This unique combination of factors positions China as a leading force in agentic commerce, offering valuable lessons for global leaders as they navigate this evolving landscape. The implications are far-reaching, requiring a re-evaluation of business models, risk management, and the user-platform relationship.
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