AI Wants Checkout but Spreedly Says Merchants Keep the Keys
AI Wants Checkout but Spreedly Says Merchants Keep the Keys
Publish Date: 2026-03-10 04:00:00
Source Domain: www.pymnts.com
- Spreedly is advocating for keeping merchants’ role prominent in agentic commerce despite the rise of AI agents designed to search, compare, and buy on behalf of consumers.
- Spreedly’s announcement highlights that merchants can process agent-initiated transactions while maintaining their current payment service provider relationships and remaining the merchant of record.
- Spreedly is developing support for emerging protocols such as Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), aiming for an initial release later in the quarter.
- Merchants are concerned about maintaining control over the checkout process, including economics, cross-sell opportunities, and presenting their own payment options.
- Spreedly emphasizes the importance of vaulting to securely manage and store cardholder credentials, ensuring that merchants can control transaction environments and security protocols.
- The challenge lies in managing credential systems and the necessary permissions and complexities introduced by multiple AI sources, digital wallets, and new issuer requirements.
- Spreedly aims to remain open to various AI environments to cater to the needs of merchants while also preparing for more customized payment flows beyond generic open standards.
