Is Your Online Store Ready for AI Shoppers? Google’s John Mueller Thinks It Should Be

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the way we interact with the web, a new challenge—and opportunity—is emerging for e-commerce businesses: AI-powered shopping agents.

Google’s John Mueller, a leading voice in the search and webmaster community, recently reignited the conversation by sharing the results of a unique experiment examining whether e-commerce sites are accessible to AI agents like those powered by ChatGPT. His message was clear: online retailers should start testing their sites for AI agent compatibility.

The Experiment: Can AI Agents Shop?

The original experiment was conducted by digital strategist Malte Polzin, who tested the top 50 Swiss e-commerce websites to see if they were compatible with AI agents representing real users—specifically ChatGPT-based shopping assistants. While most sites were technically accessible, some hit roadblocks that rendered the AI agents unable to browse or transact.

Common blockers included:

• CAPTCHAs that couldn’t be solved by AI agents
• Cloudflare’s Turnstile, a more privacy-respecting CAPTCHA alternative, also acted as a barrier
• Maintenance pages that stopped browsing altogether
• Bot defenses that mistakenly flagged AI agents as malicious or suspicious

While these are familiar tools for combating fraud and bots, they may also inadvertently block legitimate AI-powered traffic.

Mueller’s Advice: Time to Adapt

In his characteristically wry tone, Mueller posted on LinkedIn:

“Pro tip: check your ecommerce site to see if it works for shoppers using the common agents. (Or, if you’d prefer they go elsewhere because you have too much business, maybe don’t.)”

He pointed out that traditional bot detection systems can sometimes misclassify users leveraging AI agents, creating friction that could cost businesses sales in the long term.

Mueller also alluded to a broader philosophical debate brewing in the tech community: Are AI agents just bots, or are they acting more like users? And more importantly, should we distinguish them based on the type of action they perform rather than what they technically are?

The Bigger Picture: Agentic AI Is Coming

The rise of "agentic AI"—autonomous systems that act on behalf of human users—isn't just a futuristic buzzword. From shopping to booking travel and filling out forms, these intelligent assistants are gaining traction as a more efficient way to navigate digital spaces.

If e-commerce sites (and by extension, service providers, marketplaces, and SaaS platforms) don’t begin preparing for these changes, they risk missing out on an entire class of automated, high-intent users.

Should SEOs and Web Developers Be Paying Attention?

Absolutely. While the traditional focus has been on human UX and bot-based indexing (i.e., Googlebot), a new dimension of accessibility is emerging. Digital marketers, SEO specialists, and developers should seriously consider adding AI agent compatibility to their website audit checklists.

In e-commerce, ensuring that your product listings and checkout flows are accessible to AI agents could be the difference between being recommended by a personal AI assistant—or being skipped entirely.

For local services, form-filling access by AI agents might become just as important. If your contact form or appointment scheduler breaks when approached by a bot-like agent, you’re essentially closing your digital doors to a new generation of users.

The Age of AI Shoppers

This isn’t just a passing fad. AI-powered tools are rapidly becoming integrated into everyday consumer behavior, and Google’s Mueller is signaling that the industry should take notice.

Whether you’re a large retailer or a small business, testing your e-commerce site for AI agent compatibility isn’t just smart—it may soon become essential. After all, if your digital storefront is open 24/7, shouldn’t it also be open to the tools people are starting to use to shop?