The web, as we know it, is about to disappear. Not the infrastructure, but the paradigm of PageRank, clicks, and funnels that has defined digital commerce for three decades. In the coming weeks, not years, agentic AI will transform websites from destinations into API endpoints, and user journeys into autonomous workflows.
Agents Will Break the Web
Most of the KPIs in your marketing dashboard are likely to become irrelevant. Conversion rates assume human visitors. Session duration implies browsing. Even attribution models presuppose conscious decision-making. When an agent books a flight across dozens of different APIs, which touchpoint gets credit?
This isn’t disruption; it’s displacement. The digital advertising ecosystem exists because humans need persuasion. Agents don’t need to be persuaded, they need data structures that meet their requirements. An agentic funnel starts with machine‑readable product data, exposed APIs, and clear success criteria an agent can verify. The companies that understand this difference will capture unprecedented market share. Their competitors will be optimizing for ghosts.
It’s Happening Fast
Last week alone: Opera announced Neon, making every browser interaction potentially autonomous. Google integrated Project Astra into Gemini Live, embedding agents into Android Auto and every device running Google services. Amazon’s Bedrock agents can now orchestrate complex multi-system workflows. OpenAI’s Assistants API v2 adds web search and computer control. Anthropic’s Claude 4 maintains context across sessions, turning transactions into relationships.
The pattern is unmistakable. Every major platform is racing to disintermediate or eliminate traditional web interactions. Your customers won’t visit your site. Their agents will.
Strategic Imperatives
Revenue Journey Mapping – Identify the customer actions that drive the most revenue. Document every step, system, and decision point. Select your highest-value journey for immediate transformation.
Data Architecture Audit – Your product catalog is your new storefront. Run comprehensive schema validation. Implement real-time inventory synchronization. Structure pricing data for programmatic consumption. If an agent can’t parse your value proposition in milliseconds, you won’t make the sale.
API-First Commerce – Build stateless, authenticated endpoints that handle the entire transaction lifecycle. One call: product details, availability, pricing, tax calculation, order placement, confirmation. Anything else is friction agents will route around.
Governance Framework – Establish agent authentication protocols. Deploy anomaly detection specifically tuned for autonomous traffic patterns. Create audit trails that satisfy both compliance requirements and ML training needs. What you don’t measure, you can’t monetize.
Controlled Deployment – Launch with a limited cohort. Monitor completion rates versus traditional channels. Track revenue per agent interaction. Document edge cases. Then scale aggressively because your competitors already are.
The Adaptation Imperative
This isn’t another digital transformation initiative to delegate to IT. This is your iPhone moment, except the window is measured in weeks, not years. The companies that dominated mobile didn’t build smaller websites; they created entirely new ways to interact with their content.
Agentic commerce demands the same adaptation. Every assumption about user experience, customer journey, and digital marketing must be challenged. The winners won’t be those who optimize for agents, they’ll be those who rebuild their entire value chain around autonomous interactions.
The web is becoming a workflow. Make sure yours works.
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.