Mastercard upgrades Agent Suite for Merchants and launches Agent Connect for AI commerce #

Mastercard announced an updated Agent Suite for Merchants and a new product called Agent Connect on September 9, both designed to help businesses make their product data and commerce systems accessible to AI shopping assistants.

The products address what Mastercard describes as a readiness gap for retailers. As AI assistants grow capable of discovering products, comparing prices and placing orders on behalf of consumers, merchants whose data is not structured for agent access may be passed over. “Consumers are increasingly relying on AI-powered assistants to discover products, compare options and decide what to buy,” Mastercard said. “To participate, merchants need product information that AI agents can find, understand and act on.”

The updated Agent Suite for Merchants lets businesses expose their product details, pricing, availability and fulfillment options across AI models, platforms and agent experiences. Mastercard said merchants retain control over how that information is used and represented.

Agent Connect provides a single integration point for merchants, AI agents, digital platforms and payment providers to connect and transact. Mastercard said it supports product discovery, cart assembly and consumer-authorized transactions across participating AI ecosystems. Merchants can use Agent Connect alongside Mastercard’s existing Agent Pay infrastructure to enable verified agentic transactions without building separate payment infrastructure.

Research from PYMNTS Intelligence found that nearly half of merchants identified pricing and the final price a consumer pays as the functions they are least willing to hand over to AI agents.

Mastercard launched Agent Pay in April 2025 and has since added integrations with partners including Microsoft and Google, working to ensure AI-initiated payments meet the same security and consent standards as traditional card transactions.

Source: PYMNTS