Spain leads Europe in trust for AI shopping agents

Ecommpay has published research suggesting Spanish consumers are far more open to agentic commerce than their peers in the UK. The study places Spain at the top of five European markets for awareness and trust.

The payments company surveyed 1,750 consumers in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the UK on their understanding of AI shopping agents, current AI use and willingness to let software handle parts of the buying process. The findings suggest interest in AI-led shopping is widespread, but confidence falls when agents move from making recommendations to spending money.

Awareness of agentic commerce was highest in Spain at 66%, followed by Italy at 62%, France at 58%, Germany at 55% and the UK at 51%. Trust in allowing an AI agent to hold card details was also highest in Spain at 62%, compared with 52% in Italy, 50% in France, 50% in Germany and 33% in the UK.

The gap with Britain was especially clear on spending. While 40% of Spanish respondents said they would allow an agent to spend more than £100 on their behalf, 31% of UK respondents said they would not let AI spend any money at all.

Spain also recorded the lowest outright rejection rate, with 9% saying they would not use AI agents. Based on the card-details figures, trust in Spain was almost double the level seen in the UK.

Mixed picture

Not all measures pointed in the same direction. The UK scored highest for accurate understanding of the AI agent concept at 50%, just ahead of Spain at 48%, while Italy stood at 44%, Germany at 40% and France at 37%.

Expectations that AI shopping will become mainstream were high across all five markets. Spain again led at 77%, followed by Italy at 74%, the UK at 72%, Germany at 71% and France at 69%.

Comfort with using AI remained lower than awareness and expectations in every country. Spain posted the highest comfort level at 48%, with Italy at 44%, Germany at 40%, France at 37% and the UK at 31%.

Italy and Germany ranked in the middle on most measures, suggesting a more balanced view of the technology. German respondents stood out as more willing to let AI shop for gifts, while also being the least likely to say that nothing would stop them from using an AI agent.

French consumers appeared more cautious. They were the most likely after UK respondents to say they would not allow AI to spend money on their behalf, at 24%, although they showed relatively strong interest in using AI for travel bookings.

Trust barrier

For UK consumers, mistrust around payments emerged as the main obstacle. More than half, or 51%, cited payment distrust as a barrier, the highest share in the study.

British respondents also showed the strongest preference for pre-purchase approval as a way to build confidence, with 42% backing that safeguard. The pattern suggests consumers may accept AI tools as assistants in the shopping process before they accept fully autonomous buying.

The findings point to a broader divide between using AI for discovery and using it for execution. Across the five markets, consumers were generally more willing to use agents to compare prices and find deals than to complete purchases independently.

Max Ryzhov, Chief Product Officer at Ecommpay, said: "Across the five markets we surveyed, consumers are most open to using AI agents for comparing prices and finding deals and are least likely to use agents to complete purchases autonomously. This signals that consumers are interested in AI, but to assist rather than to act on their behalf. Looking at levels of trust reveals one of the main causes of hesitancy, and a key area of opportunity for merchants and payment providers: trust.

"With greater trust in the agent, more consumers will engage with agentic commerce, and more merchants will be able to access its benefits. Payment service providers hold a strong position of trust with consumers and merchants alike, and are ready to support identity proofing, transaction mandates, authentication, fraud prevention and dispute management. Holding a vital position between merchants, consumers, banks and schemes, PSPs are well placed to secure the consumer confidence that will be key to merchant success as agentic commerce evolves."