Chinese payments and digital-services company Alipay launched China’s first full-stack agentic commerce platform, giving merchants tools to move from digital operations to services run by AI agents, at a partner conference in Hangzhou.

In a statement on Monday, Alipay said the platform can offer a set of AI tools that merchants can adopt selectively. Businesses with digital operations but no AI capability can convert web pages, products and service workflows into agent-ready skills and MCP tools, a format usable by AI agents.

Merchants already running AI services can build and manage AI agents to handle tasks such as product recommendations and membership programs.

The platform also connects merchants to Ah Bao, Alipay’s consumer AI agent. Through its AHA protocol, the AI agent can enable interoperability across different agents and devices, and integrate Alipay’s payment, identity, risk-management, and fulfillment services.

Ah Bao, launched in June 2026, lets consumers reach more than 10,000 everyday services through conversation, such as paying utility bills, booking pet services, finding EV chargers. Retail brands including KFC, Mixue Bingcheng, and Luckin Coffee have integrated their services, allowing orders and payments through the agent. As of August 2026, Alipay said Ah Bao was connected with five smartphone brands that together account for more than 70 percent of the market, and with 16 automakers.

Alipay has also linked Ah Bao to other companies’ AI assistants. In one demonstration, a user asked an agent on a StepFun phone to find the nearest EV charger and order a coffee, and the agent generated a combined order without the user switching between apps.

To attract developers and merchants, Alipay launched an incentive program offering 100 million free tokens per user, subsidies on tokens used in real transactions, and reduced payment fees.

Cyril Han, chief executive of Ant Group, said AI agents would become a new interface connecting users with merchants, and that agentic commerce would grow quickly over the next six to 12 months. Jun Li, president of Alipay Business Group, said the company would continue building infrastructure for AI adoption across industries.

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