From E-Commerce to "Gen Comm": The Next Revolution in Digital Business
Matt Fischer Maps the Future of Generative Commerce
Twenty-six years ago, PayPal made a bold bet: that people would trust the internet enough to buy things online. It worked. E-commerce exploded, and the companies that moved first—Amazon, eBay, Shopify—became the infrastructure of a trillion-dollar economy.
Today, we're at an identical inflection point. But this time, the buyers aren't people clicking through websites. They're AI agents transacting on our behalf. And the revolution has a name.
Matt Fischer, CEO of AI Revolution Labs, has coined the term "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) to describe this seismic shift. At AIMarCon on November 4-5 in Salt Lake City, Fischer will lead a critical session exploring the future of transacting in an agent-fueled "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) world—a world where AI agents don't just recommend products, they buy them.
This isn't theory. The infrastructure is live. The race has begun. And if you're not preparing for "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) now, you're already behind.
What Is "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce)?
E-commerce was built for humans: search bars, product pages, shopping carts, checkout flows. Every pixel optimized for eyes and clicks.
"Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) is built for agents. When ChatGPT, Claude, or Google's Gemini needs to book a flight, order supplies, or renew a subscription, they don't navigate websites—they transact directly through APIs, payment protocols, and cryptographic verification.
The shift from e-commerce to "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) isn't just about who's buying. It's about speed, trust, and an entirely new rulebook for how businesses compete.
The PayPal Moment Is Happening Again—Right Now
In 1999, e-commerce had a problem: people didn't trust websites with their credit cards. PayPal solved it, and the floodgates opened.
In 2025, "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) has the same problem: AI agents need payment infrastructure that's instant, secure, and autonomous.
And in the last two weeks, the solution arrived.
Two weeks ago, Google released AP2 (Agent Payment Protocol 2.0), a standardized framework for AI agents to initiate and authorize payments. Days later, Stripe and OpenAI announced their collaboration, integrating instant checkout capabilities directly into GPT models.
When Google and OpenAI both release agent payment infrastructure within weeks of each other, the message is unmistakable: "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) isn't coming. It's here.
This is the PayPal moment. Except it's happening at AI speed—measured in months, not decades.
The Technical Foundation: MCP, A2A, and AP2
"Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) runs on infrastructure most marketers have never heard of. Here's what you need to know:
MCP (Model Context Protocol): Allows AI agents to maintain context across multiple interactions and transactions. Your agent "remembers" your preferences, budget, and past purchases—so it can transact on your behalf with precision.
A2A (Agent-to-Agent Commerce): Direct transactions between AI systems without human intervention. Imagine your personal AI agent negotiating bulk pricing with a supplier's AI agent—no emails, no phone calls, just milliseconds of negotiation and execution.
AP2 (Agent Payment Protocol 2.0): Google's newly released standard that enables agents to securely initiate, authorize, and complete payments. It's the universal language that lets any agent transact with any merchant.
SPT (Secure Payment Transactions) and ACP (Agent Commerce Protocols): The Stripe-OpenAI integration that makes checkout invisible. An agent identifies a need, verifies the product, executes payment, and confirms delivery—all in seconds.
These aren't buzzwords. They're the building blocks of a new economy. And they're live right now.
Cryptography: The Trust Layer of "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce)
E-commerce relied on SSL certificates and centralized payment processors to establish trust. It worked, but it was slow, expensive, and required humans to verify every transaction.
"Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) uses advanced cryptography to create trust at machine speed.
Zero-knowledge proofs let agents verify transactions without exposing sensitive data. Cryptographic signatures ensure that every transaction is tamper-proof and auditable. Decentralized verification means no single point of failure—and no gatekeeper taking a cut.
This isn't just about security. It's about enabling autonomous agents to transact with mathematical certainty. When an agent buys on your behalf, you need to trust that it's secure, private, and incorruptible. Cryptography makes that possible.
Beyond SEO: New Rules, New Playbook
For 25 years, marketing followed a familiar playbook: optimize for search engines, rank high on Google, convert clicks into customers.
Keywords, backlinks, meta descriptions, paid ads—these were the tools of the trade. The game was clear: appear at the top of search results, and you win.
"Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) introduces an entirely new playing field.
AI agents don't navigate search result pages. They don't click through to your website. They evaluate, decide, and transact—often without a human ever seeing your brand. When an agent searches for "best ergonomic office chair under $500," it's not ranking websites. It's cross-referencing data, verifying claims, and making a purchase decision in milliseconds.
This doesn't mean SEO is obsolete—it means the rules have fundamentally changed. The skills that made you successful in e-commerce (understanding algorithms, optimizing for discovery, building authority) are more important than ever. But the target has shifted from search engines to AI agents.
Welcome to the new playbook: Agent Optimization.
The New Marketing Discipline: Optimizing for Agents
Forget ranking on Google. In "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce), you're optimizing for thousands of AI agents—ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and countless specialized agents making purchasing decisions.
Here's what matters now:
Structured data: Agents can't parse messy websites. They need clean APIs, schema markup, and machine-readable product information.
Verifiable credentials: Agents trust businesses that can prove their claims through cryptographic verification, third-party validation, and cross-referenced sources.
Real-time availability: If your inventory, pricing, or fulfillment status isn't available via API, agents will choose a competitor who can transact instantly.
Authoritative sourcing: Agents don't care about your ad spend. They care about whether you're cited by credible sources, have verified reviews, and provide transparent data.
The question isn't "How do we rank?" anymore. It's "How do we become the source agents choose?"
Credibility Over Clicks: You Can't Buy Your Way to the Top—Yet
In e-commerce, you could buy visibility. Pay for Google Ads, sponsor an influencer, bid on keywords—and you'd get traffic.
In "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce), credibility isn't purchased. It's proven. (More to come on the leading theories of how to monetize generative engines)
Agents evaluate businesses through:
Cryptographically verified reviews (not fake 5-star ratings)
Cross-referenced data from multiple authoritative sources
Reputational signals built over time through consistent, trustworthy transactions
Agent consensus—if multiple agents verify your credibility, you rise to the top
This is marketing's most radical shift: authority and trust must be earned through verifiable truth, not advertising budgets.
Businesses that built their growth on paid ads and SEO tricks will struggle. Those with real products, transparent data, and genuine credibility will dominate.
The Velocity of Transactions: From Hours to Milliseconds
E-commerce optimized for human behavior. A customer might spend 10 minutes browsing, add items to a cart, get distracted, return later, and finally check out. Conversion took hours, sometimes days.
"Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) measures conversion in milliseconds.
An agent receives a query ("I need 500 USB-C cables delivered by Friday"). It:
Searches for verified suppliers
Compares pricing, reviews, and delivery times
Verifies inventory via API
Executes payment through AP2
Confirms order and delivery
Total time: 340 milliseconds.
Businesses must architect for this velocity. Real-time inventory APIs. Instant payment confirmation. Autonomous order processing. If your systems can't respond in milliseconds, agents will move to competitors who can.
Matt Fischer's Perspective: Understanding the 6-Month Window
At AIMarCon, Matt Fischer will share a critical insight: We're in a 6-12 month window where early adopters will establish dominance in "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce).
The starting gun has fired. Google's AP2 release two weeks ago. Stripe-OpenAI's integration. These aren't pilot programs—they're production infrastructure. The "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) economy is live.
Fischer's prediction: Within 18 months, businesses without "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) infrastructure will be as disadvantaged as companies without e-commerce capabilities were in 2010.
The companies that understand agent-first commerce today will become the "Amazon of Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce). Those waiting for mainstream adoption will spend the next decade playing catch-up in an economy where agents handle 40%+ of transactions.
This isn't a trend to monitor. It's a shift to lead.
Join the Conversation at AIMarCon
On November 4-5 in Salt Lake City, Matt Fischer will lead an essential session on the future of transacting in an agent-fueled "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) world.
This isn't a keynote. It's a working session for innovators ready to build the next era of commerce. You'll explore:
How agents discover, evaluate, and purchase on behalf of users
What payment infrastructure looks like when AI is the buyer
How to position your business as the trusted choice in an agent-first economy
Real-world examples of companies already winning in "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce)
The window is closing. The infrastructure is live. The race has begun.
Will you lead the "Gen Comm" (Generative Commerce) revolution—or watch from the sidelines?