Alipay opens China's first agentic commerce platform
Merchants turn products and workflows into AI tools - assistant Ah Bao orders from KFC, Luckin and Mixue right inside the chat.
Illustration · AI-generated (AI IN LIFE)
At a glance
- Billed as China's first full-stack agentic commerce platform
- Consumer assistant Ah Bao links more than 10,000 services
- Partners: KFC, Luckin Coffee and Mixue Bingcheng
- Tied to smartphone brands (>70% share) and 16 automakers
- 100 million free tokens per user as an incentive
Payment service Alipay says it has launched China's first full-stack platform for agentic commerce. Merchants can turn their web pages, products and service workflows into agent-ready skills and MCP tools that AI assistants can use directly, TechNode reports.
At the center is the consumer assistant Ah Bao, which Alipay introduced in June 2026. It connects users through conversation to more than 10,000 everyday services. Early partners such as KFC, Mixue Bingcheng and Luckin Coffee have integrated their offerings so ordering and payment happen inside the chat with Ah Bao.
The reach is substantial: according to the report, the platform is connected to five smartphone brands that together control more than 70% of the Chinese market, plus 16 automakers. An incentive program grants each user 100 million free tokens to drive adoption.
"AI agents will become a new interface connecting users with merchants, and agentic commerce will grow quickly over the next six to 12 months," said Ant Group CEO Cyril Han. Markets liked the news: Alibaba's stock rose around the launch.
The push shows how aggressively Chinese tech groups are rebuilding commerce around autonomous assistants - while in the West, companies like OpenAI, Google and Perplexity are still building comparable agent-payment flows.
FAQ
What is agentic commerce?
Commerce where AI assistants search, choose, order and pay on a user's behalf - merchants expose their offerings as machine-readable tools for that.
What is Ah Bao?
Alipay's consumer assistant that connects users through conversation to more than 10,000 everyday services and completes orders directly.
Which brands are on board?
KFC, Luckin Coffee and Mixue Bingcheng among others, plus five major smartphone makers and 16 automakers.
