AI agentic shopping comes with its own perils

The emergence of AI shopping not only gives consumers access to personalized recommendations and seamless shopping, but also brings with it the increased risk of digital fraud.

This Black Friday, consumers and retailers are being warned for the first time about the dangers of so-called “agency shopping” as consumers turn to big-box models to search for products, compare offers, get personalized recommendations and even make purchases without much human intervention. These technological advances bring their own risks.

“It definitely makes my life easier… but it also makes the scammers’ lives significantly easier,” said Michael Reitblat, CEO of e-commerce prevention provider Forter.

According to Reitblat, there has been a 200% increase in consumers’ agency shopping in the last six months. This was accompanied by an almost tenfold increase in the number of fraudsters using artificial intelligence. “Think of it as sending thousands of robots to different stores to look like they’re good consumers,” Reitblat told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”

Reitblat said some retailers’ response was to ban AI purchases, but that could be a flawed strategy as more and more consumers use AI to shop and drive quality traffic.

A report by McKinsey & Company and The Business of Fashion found that among fashion executives, artificial intelligence and digital tools are seen as the biggest opportunity for the industry in 2026. The report noted that brands need to rethink their marketing and e-commerce strategies to ensure that products are visible and preferred by artificial intelligence models, and stated that semantically rich data and API-accessible content will be critical for success.

“To fight AI, you need to use AI,” Reitblat said. “You need to make sure you’re leveraging better data than fraudsters might have and think through it properly: How do you authenticate consumers?”

Value-conscious consumers are another factor retailers will have to grapple with this year as rising trade tensions and concerns about a slowing economy impact consumers’ spending habits.

“Consumer confidence is ebb and flow, so making sure customers feel they are getting real value will be a big thing this year,” he said. Curry‘s Chief Services Officer Dean Kramer.

“We know research plays a big role in how consumers approach Black Friday and get absolute value.”