Alipay launches China’s first agentic commerce platform

Alipay introduced what it called China’s first full-stack agentic commerce platform at its AI Ecosystem Partner Conference in Hangzhou. The company said the platform supplies tools for merchants to shift existing digital services into AI-powered workflows and to connect with other AI agents and devices.

The platform offers a set of selectable AI business tools. For merchants without in-house AI, Alipay converts webpages, product listings and service workflows into agent-ready “Skills” and MCP tools to lower the technical barrier. Merchants that already run AI services can use the platform to create agents, orchestrate Skills, execute tasks and manage operations to refine customer insights, product recommendations and membership services.

Core Alipay functions are integrated into the platform, including AI-enabled payments, verified identity, risk controls and service fulfilment. The platform uses the AHA protocol to link services into Alipay’s Ah Bao ecosystem, enabling cross-agent and cross-device interoperability so a single integration can reach users across smartphones, cars, AI glasses and third-party AI applications.

Ah Bao, launched by Alipay in June 2026, is a conversational AI agent that provides access to more than 10,000 services such as utility bill payments, pet care booking and EV charger location. Retailers including KFC, Mixue Bingcheng and Luckin Coffee have connected ordering and payment functions to Ah Bao. By August 2026, Ah Bao had been integrated with five major smartphone makers covering over 70% of the market and with 16 automakers.

At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in July, Alipay and foundation model company StepFun demonstrated an example integration. An agent called Amoo, running on StepFun’s StepX Neo smartphone, interpreted a spoken request to find a nearby EV charger and order coffee for delivery. Amoo planned a route and cost-optimized solution, then invoked charging and coffee agents on Ah Bao to produce a ready-to-confirm order without switching apps.

Alipay has also worked with device makers. In July, OPPO linked its AI agent Breeno to Ah Bao so users can ask Breeno to complete tasks-such as buying a movie ticket while watching a short video-and Ah Bao handles selection and payment without leaving the app.

To encourage developers and small merchants to join the agent ecosystem, Alipay launched an AI Business Incentive Program that offers 100 million free tokens per user, subsidies for tokens used in real transactions and reduced payment fees.

Ant Group CEO Cyril Han predicted that agentic commerce will expand rapidly over the next six to 12 months and that AI agents will become a common interface between large numbers of users and merchants. Jun Li, president of Alipay Business Group, said Alipay plans to continue building the infrastructure needed for wider industry use and partner collaboration.