Artificial intelligence agents are set to become a major force in consumer purchasing, with AI facilitated spending projected to more than triple from $944 billion in 2026 to $3.35 trillion by 2030, according to a new study by PHD and WARC.

In other words, the research signals a significant shift in the way consumers navigate an increasingly crowded marketplace, where the volume of products, information and choices continues to expand beyond what individuals can easily process.

So, the result of the report showed that, as s consumers struggle to sort through the growing abundance of options, AI agents are emerging as digital intermediaries capable of searching, comparing, recommending and, in some cases, completing routine purchasing tasks on their behalf.

Again, the  study estimates that agent facilitated transactions will account for 3.8 percent of global consumer spending by 2030, up from 1.3 percent in 2026.

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people will continue to make the majority of purchasing decisions independently over the next few years, AI agents are expected to play a growing role in determining which products consumers discover, consider and eventually buy.

Meanwhile, the report, titled From Abundance to Agents: How the Delegation of Choice Is Transforming Marketing, argues that the rise of agentic AI will not affect every industry at the same pace. Instead, adoption will accelerate in categories where purchases generate substantial data, occur regularly and involve repetitive comparisons or decisions.

Moreso, the research also projects that just 10 markets will account for 67.9 percent of global consumer agentic AI spending by 2030, highlighting the concentration of the emerging market around countries with strong digital commerce ecosystems and significant AI investment.

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However, United States is expected to remain the largest market, generating about $1.1 trillion in agent facilitated consumer spending, equivalent to 31.9 percent of the global total.

Aside this, China will follow with an estimated $505.8 billion, representing 15.1 percent of worldwide spending, while the United Kingdom is projected to account for $131.2 billion, or 3.9 percent of the global market.

PHD Worldwide Chief Strategy Officer, Rohan Tambyrajah, said the research provides marketers with evidence on the commercial opportunities emerging from consumer facing AI and agentic AI.

He said brands will increasingly need to combine meaningful brand experiences with information and systems that machines can process effectively, while PHD’s Four Modes Framework offers a practical approach for marketers assessing how AI adoption could affect individual categories.

WARC Director of Data, Intelligence and Forecasting and report author, James McDonald, said agentic AI is already beginning to influence the path to purchase and could become deeply embedded in consumer spending over the next four years.

According to McDonald, the impact will extend beyond traditionally high-frequency categories such as travel, consumer packaged goods and utilities into sectors where marketers have historically relied heavily on brand building.

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Furthermore, the research identifies telecommunications and utilities, financial services, and travel and transport as some of the sectors likely to experience the strongest transformation.

Similarly, telecommunications and utilities are projected to record the largest increase, with AI facilitated spending rising 611.9 percent from $57.6 billion in 2026 to $410.3 billion in 2030.

The category’s information heavy nature, recurring transactions and comparison driven purchasing behaviour make it particularly suited to AI delegation.

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Also, financial services, meanwhile, are expected to see agent facilitated spending climb 235.3 percent to $237.9 billion by 2030. Although consumers may remain reluctant to surrender complete control over sensitive financial decisions, AI agents could increasingly assist with research, comparisons and other complex stages of the decision making process.

Travel and transport will also experience rapid adoption, with AI facilitated spending projected to jump 252.8 percent from $78.1 billion in 2026 to $275.6 billion in 2030. Agents are expected to increasingly support destination discovery, itinerary planning, price comparisons and bookings.

The study also identifies several consumer categories where AI could influence purchasing without necessarily taking complete control of the customer journey.

In soft drinks, for example, agent influenced spending is expected to rise 403.5 percent from $60.5 billion in 2026 to $304.8 billion by 2030. The researchers point to frequent replenishment and relatively simple purchasing decisions as factors that could encourage automation.

Food is similarly positioned for rapid adoption. Agent facilitated spending in the category is projected to increase 274.8 percent from $78.1 billion in 2026 to $292.8 billion in 2030, as consumers increasingly use AI to manage routine food choices and purchases.

Impressively, Media and publishing is expected to record one of the sharpest increases, with agent facilitated spending rising 401.8 percent from $73.3 billion to $367.8 billion over the period.

At the same time, subscription management, personalised recommendations and digital content consumption could make the sector particularly receptive to AI driven decision making.

Retail spending facilitated by AI agents is also forecast to expand by 218.7 percent, moving from $62.7 billion in 2026 to $199.9 billion. Consequently, retailers will need to ensure that AI systems continue to recognise and recommend their brands rather than reducing them to fulfilment providers in an increasingly automated shopping process.

Alcoholic drinks are another category expected to experience substantial agent influence. Spending facilitated by AI agents is forecast to rise 219 percent from $62 billion in 2026 to $198.4 billion by 2030, with AI potentially helping consumers with recommendations around occasions, pairings and replenishment.

However, the research indicates that not every category will surrender the same level of influence to AI. Automobiles, electronics and privacy sensitive areas such as pharmaceuticals and healthcare are expected to remain more resistant to full delegation .

This is because, because consumers are likely to demand stronger assurances before allowing AI systems to make expensive or highly personal choices.

Similarly, categories such as toiletries, cosmetics, clothing and accessories may remain heavily dependent on human influence, creator recommendations and word of mouth. While AI could affect these markets, the researchers expect its role to remain comparatively limited.

Against this backdrop, the report warns that marketers must prepare for a purchasing environment in which machines increasingly participate in consumer choice.

Brands will therefore need to strengthen their structured and machine readable data, while also maintaining distinctive brand assets that allow them to stand out in increasingly automated recommendation systems.

At the same time, marketers will need to build a consistent brand narrative that works across human and AI driven touchpoints. The central challenge, therefore, will not simply be getting consumers to notice a brand.

Without doubt, brands will increasingly have to ensure that AI systems can find, understand, accurately represent and recommend them, while consumers retain confidence in the brands those systems put before them.

As agentic AI moves from experimentation into everyday commerce, the marketing battle is consequently expanding from competing for human attention to influencing the machines that increasingly help consumers decide where to spend their money.