AI agents move into e-commerce: Chinese platforms are moving both shopping and payments to chatbots

The article highlights an example of Alibaba updating its chatbot Qwen: in the new version, users can, for example, order food, book flights, or make other transactions within Qwen. The development ties Qwen more closely to Alibaba’s ecosystem: users can receive personalized recommendations from Taobao or Fliggy, and payment can be made via Alipay – meaning the bot replaces some of the previous “jumping” between apps.

The trend is not limited to Alibaba. According to Világgazdaság, ByteDance has updated the Doubao chatbot so that it can now handle certain tasks autonomously (such as ticket booking processes) by relying on the e-commerce functions of Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok). On Tencent’s side, the focus was on AI agents embedded in the WeChat ecosystem: the company’s management indicated that these solutions could appear as key elements in the future.

The article also refers to the fact that according to a 2025 McKinsey study, roughly half of consumers are already using AI for online searches, and by 2030, AI agents could create significant economic value in the United States – up to over a trillion dollars – by simplifying the shopping process.

Why is this interesting for merchants? The essence of agent-based commerce is that the “search-compare-cart-pay” chain is increasingly moving to a conversational interface. This could rewrite where purchases are made (instead of the classic webshop interface) and increase the value of those actors who can provide integrated payment, inventory data, delivery promises and fast fulfillment – ​​all in a “bot-compatible” way.