Observed Signal · Jun 22, 2026 · Industry Analysis · Source: CMSWire · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
AI Search and Agents Compress B2B Buying Journey
This CMSWire analysis examines how AI assistants and autonomous agents are transforming the consumer and B2B buying journey, shifting discovery from keyword search to AI-mediated conversations. Key findings include McKinsey's forecast of $750 billion in US revenue flowing through AI search by 2028, and the rise of agentic commerce with protocols like Google's Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP). The article emphasizes that data governance has become a CX discipline, as brands must ensure accurate, machine-readable information to be surfaced by AI. It highlights examples from Amazon's Rufus, Rakuten's AI concierge, OpenAI's Instant Checkout, and Siemens' Industrial Copilot. The piece concludes with actionable steps for CX leaders to adapt, including mapping AI-mediated entry points, treating machine-readable accuracy as a KPI, and preparing for agentic customers.
High relevance to MarTech and AI; synthesizes multiple trends but is not a single breaking event.
Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- McKinsey forecasts $750 billion in US revenue flowing through AI search by 2028.
- Half of consumers already use AI-powered search in buying journeys.
- Amazon's Rufus assistant was used by more than 250 million customers in a year.
- Gartner predicts 40% of enterprise apps will feature task-specific AI agents by 2026.
- Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) with over 60 partners in September 2025.
Connected Companies & Entities
21 Entities mappedThe Linux Foundation
Neutral non-profit steward of open source ecosystems and tooling.
“Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol, the open standard — since adopted by OpenAI, Google and Microsoft and now governed under the Linux Found...”
Coveo
Enterprise SaaS for search, recommendations and grounded generative answers.
“Research on rethinking enterprise search is blunt: assistants are only as useful as the information they can reach....”
Rakuten Rewards
Cashback and affiliate commerce platform for shoppers and merchants.
“In Japan, Rakuten’s full-scale agentic AI launch placed a conversational concierge across its ecosystem and into Rakuten Ichiba — ending, af...”
Anthropic
Foundation model company selling AI assistants and model APIs.
“Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol, the open standard — since adopted by OpenAI, Google and Microsoft and now governed under the Linux Found...”
Amazon
Global commerce, cloud, advertising and subscription platform company.
“Amazon’s AI shopping assistant Rufus was used by more than 250 million customers in a single year, with monthly users up 149% — and its “Buy...”
American Express
Closed-loop payments network, card issuer and commerce media platform.
“Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) with more than 60 partners — Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Salesforce and Etsy am...”
Samsung Electronics
Global electronics maker monetising devices, streaming, advertising and digital services.
“Samsung’s Galaxy AI expansion toward 400 million devices is backed by data showing 47% of consumers say their daily routines would be disrup...”
Perplexity
AI answer engine with subscriptions, enterprise plans, and developer API.
“ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity are no longer chat tools that occasionally answer questions — they have become the new searc...”
McKinsey & Company
Global management consultancy with software, AI and transformation delivery capabilities.
“McKinsey’s research on the age of AI search found that half of consumers already use AI-powered search in their buying journeys, forecasts $...”
Stripe
Financial infrastructure platform for payments, billing, fraud, and commerce operations.
“OpenAI’s Instant Checkout lets the 700 million people who use ChatGPT weekly complete purchases without leaving the chat, built on the open ...”
PayPal
Digital payments network spanning wallet, merchant tools and commerce media.
“Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) with more than 60 partners — Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Salesforce and Etsy am...”
Microsoft
Diversified software, cloud, advertising and gaming platform company.
“Siemens’ Industrial Copilot, built with Microsoft, is used by more than 100 customers and reaches over 120,000 engineers, with thyssenkrupp ...”
Yext
Enterprise software for brand visibility, listings, search and reputation management.
“Yext’s global consumer study found 62% of people now trust AI tools to guide brand discovery — yet only 10% trust the first answer alone, an...”
OpenAI
Foundation model company selling AI software, APIs and subscriptions.
“OpenAI’s Instant Checkout lets the 700 million people who use ChatGPT weekly complete purchases without leaving the chat, built on the open ...”
Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Global management consultancy for strategy, transformation, AI, and customer insight.
“BCG’s analysis of brands meeting AI bots names the strategic cost of ignoring it: a thinner inflow of customer data, fewer moments to differ...”
Siemens
Industrial technology group selling enterprise software for buildings and engineering.
“Siemens’ Industrial Copilot, built with Microsoft, is used by more than 100 customers and reaches over 120,000 engineers, with thyssenkrupp ...”
Etsy
Marketplace for handmade goods with seller advertising monetisation.
“Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) with more than 60 partners — Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Salesforce and Etsy am...”
Gartner
Research and advisory firm for enterprise technology and business leaders.
“Gartner predicts that 40% of enterprise applications will feature task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026, up from less than 5% in 2025....”
Salesforce
Enterprise SaaS platform for CRM, marketing, data, analytics, and workflows.
“Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) with more than 60 partners — Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Salesforce and Etsy am...”
Mastercard
Global payments network and enterprise financial infrastructure provider.
“Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) with more than 60 partners — Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Salesforce and Etsy am...”
Search, video, adtech and cloud giant within Alphabet.
“Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) with more than 60 partners — Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Salesforce and Etsy am...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Track Real-Time Market Signals & Shifts
Set up custom watchlists to receive automated, evidence-grounded executive digests whenever material signals or shifts occur across your tracked landscape.