75% of Retailers Unprepared for Agentic Shopping - Patchworks Survey Reveals Technology Stack Challenges

Key Takeaways

Only 27% of UK retailers have technology infrastructure capable of supporting agentic shopping
60% of retailers experience annual revenue losses due to poor system integration, with 10% losing over £1 million annually
POS systems (34%), CRM (32%), and e-commerce platforms (27%) are the primary integration challenges

Patchworks Survey Reveals Retailer Readiness Gap

Only one in four retailers ready for agentic shopping, Patchworks warns

Just 27% of UK retailers say their technology stack is connected and scalable enough to support agentic shopping - leaving most unprepared.

A survey by integration platform provider Patchworks reveals that only 27% of UK retailers have technology stacks capable of supporting agentic shopping.

Background and Industry Trends

What is Agentic Commerce?

Agentic commerce is a next-generation e-commerce model where AI agents autonomously handle product search, comparison, ordering, and payment on behalf of consumers. While traditional e-commerce followed a "consumers actively search for products" model, agentic commerce represents a fundamental paradigm shift to "AI understands consumer needs, presents optimal options, and handles purchases."

Rapid Industry Movement

January 2026 has seen major developments across the industry. Google announced the "Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)" co-developed with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart. This is an open standard for agentic commerce, with over 20 companies including Best Buy, Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe expressing support.

Microsoft also announced agentic AI solutions for Dynamics 365 on January 8, driving intelligent automation across retail operations.

According to McKinsey forecasts, agentic commerce transaction volume could reach up to $1 trillion in the US B2C market alone by 2030, and $3-5 trillion globally.

Deep Dive: The Full Patchworks Survey

Survey Overview

The "Retail Integration Report 2025/26," commissioned by Patchworks to research firm OnePoll, surveyed 200 senior leaders with technology decision-making authority in UK retail in August 2025.

Losses from Poor System Integration

The findings are striking.

Revenue Loss Reality:

60% of retailers experience annual revenue losses due to poor system integration
10% lose over £1 million (approximately $1.25 million) annually
48% lose over £50,000, 14% lose over £500,000
31% experience direct sales losses during peak periods like Black Friday

Operational Challenges:

39% of teams spend more time fixing connectivity issues than driving sales growth
58% worry about customer reputation damage from system performance degradation
42% experience sleep loss fearing downtime during peak periods
40% worry about infrastructure failures during high-load periods

Where Integration Problems Occur

The system areas with the most issues are:

POS Systems: 34%
CRM: 32%
E-commerce Platforms: 27%

Current Integration Status

Retailer integration maturity remains at low levels:

Only 27% are "fully connected and scalable"
33% are at "reactive stage with frequent failures"
31% depend on custom integrations (requiring expensive development)
20% use plugins that don't scale well
18% depend on manual coding
Only 13% have adopted iPaaS solutions
11% have no integration means at all

Patchworks CEO Jim Herbert states: "Integration has long been seen as backend technology, but it's actually the profit engine behind every transaction."

Impact and Applications for E-commerce Businesses

Why Immediate Action is Critical

AI agents won't "wait" like humans do. If they can't instantly access product information, inventory status, pricing, and shipping information, AI agents will skip that site and move to competitors. In other words, delays in system integration directly translate to loss of future customer touchpoints.

According to eMarketer, approximately 6% of all searches are already conducted through AI answer engines, with AI-driven traffic to retailers increasing 1,200% year-over-year while traditional search traffic has declined 10%.

Specific Countermeasures

1. Inventory Your System Integration Status

First, understand your current state. Visualize data flows between major systems—POS, CRM, e-commerce, inventory management, OMS, WMS—and identify siloed areas.

2. Consider iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service)

Rather than depending on custom development or plugins, implementing iPaaS solutions enables building flexible and scalable integration foundations. While only 13% have adopted this in the survey, it's likely to become the future standard.

3. API-First Design Philosophy

When introducing new systems, include API richness in selection criteria. Compatibility with open standards like Google's UCP should also be considered.

4. Achieve Real-Time Data Synchronization

AI agents always demand the latest information. Real-time synchronization of inventory, pricing, and product information is a mandatory requirement.

5. Phased Migration Plan

Overhauling everything at once isn't realistic. Prioritize integration in areas with the highest sales impact (inventory integration, order processing, etc.).

Summary

The Patchworks survey highlights serious challenges in retailer preparedness for the agentic commerce era. The 27% "ready" figure means, conversely, that 73% risk falling behind on this new shopping experience.

As tech giants like Google and Microsoft rapidly build out agentic commerce infrastructure, system integration for retailers has become not "eventually necessary" but a management priority requiring "immediate action." Investment in system integration should be viewed as foundational investment to secure future AI agent-driven revenue.