AI Agents and Web3: A New Transformation in the E-commerce Industry

When discussing how artificial intelligence is changing the world, we often think of painting robots, writing assistants, or chatbots. However, in the e-commerce sector, a more practical form of AI is quietly emerging, which is "Agent-type AI".

This AI is different from common conversational AIs; it is an "agent" that can autonomously perform tasks based on instructions. When agent-type AI is combined with Web3 technology, it can not only recommend products but also complete orders, make payments, manage wallets, and even participate in a series of complex financial operations.

Efficiency Pain Points in the E-commerce Industry

We often encounter such shopping scenarios: with the holidays approaching, we need to prepare gifts for friends and family, but after opening the e-commerce app, we get lost among the vast array of products, spending a lot of time comparing and choosing. This reflects that while e-commerce platforms are not lacking in choices, they lack an efficient decision-making mechanism.

Industry insiders have pointed out that their team began to attempt to solve the issue of "high attention costs" using Agent-type AI. For example, when a user presents a request like "I need a birthday gift for a child aged 8-9 who likes science and games, with a budget of under 200 yuan," the Agent-type AI can quickly filter, sort, and recommend, directly outputting the optimal choice, allowing the user to simply confirm to complete the purchase.

This experience transforms into "goods come to me", approaching the service level of a personal assistant. More importantly, it can autonomously complete operations such as placing orders and making payments.

Web3: Ideal Scenarios for Agent-type AI Implementation

Although the above experience sounds powerful, the "mobilization of funds" by AI faces strict limitations in the traditional financial system. This is where Web3 technology comes into play. In a blockchain system, each AI agent can have a dedicated cryptocurrency wallet and autonomously perform operations such as payments and transfers through smart contracts.

Some innovative companies have already practiced in this area. They have developed e-commerce infrastructure open to AI, allowing AI agents to access the complete merchant ecosystem through their API and smart contract network, enabling the entire process from product search to payment. All transactions are completed on-chain, ensuring transparency and auditability.

The Attractiveness of Web3 E-commerce to Merchants

From the merchant's perspective, the AI+Web3 system also has significant advantages:

1. Lower transaction costs: Traditional payment systems often charge a fee of 2%-3%, while Web3-based payment systems can significantly reduce this cost.

2. Improve cash flow: Blockchain systems can achieve near real-time clearing, enhancing the efficiency of fund utilization for merchants, which is particularly beneficial for cross-border e-commerce.

3. Innovative business model: Through the DeFi structure, consumers can become "investors" or "liquidity providers", participating in merchant financing, supply chain credit, etc., forming a more dynamic business ecosystem.

Balancing Technology and User Experience

Although concepts like AI, blockchain, and DeFi may seem complex to the average user, excellent product design can hide these technical details. Some companies are committed to creating a product experience that is "as easy to use as magic, but as simple as a mobile app," completely hiding blockchain elements through customizable interfaces, making users feel as if they are shopping on a regular website.

Conclusion

The combination of Agent-type AI and Web3 is creating a new intelligent, trustworthy, and autonomous e-commerce ecosystem. This is not a distant future, but has already been preliminarily realized on some platforms. If Web 1.0 solved information retrieval and Web 2.0 solved social connections, then Agent-type AI + Web3 is addressing the "last mile" of "decision-making efficiency" and "transaction execution."

In the future, the shopping experience may become much simpler: you just need to state your needs, and AI can handle the entire process from selection to purchase for you. This will completely change our consumption habits and bring a new revolution to the e-commerce industry.