Agentic Commerce and the Reorganization of Partnerships: Lessons from the Newegg Integration
Newegg’s integration of PayPal’s Agentic Commerce into Perplexity demonstrates how AI-driven transactions are reshaping the affiliate funnel—and how high-quality partnerships are becoming the key to success.
Why This Example Matters Right Now:
The e-commerce world in 2025/26 is undergoing a shift that goes far beyond a new payment feature. In late November 2025, just ahead of Black Friday, Newegg integrated PayPal’s Agentic Commerce services into Perplexity. This means Newegg products can now be discovered through AI and purchased directly within the conversation. The transaction no longer takes place on the advertiser’s website, but within the AI interface—secured via PayPal Checkout.
This isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s a clear entry into a new sales model: discovery, consultation, and purchase are merging into a single AI agent.
The Paradigm Shift: Purchases Within AI Instead of on the Shop’s Website
Until now, the process was clear: a search engine or publisher delivered traffic, and the advertiser handled consultation, cart, and checkout. In the Newegg/Perplexity model, this media break disappears. Users express their purchase intent in natural language, the AI curates offers, displays product cards, and initiates the purchase via PayPal “Instant Buy” directly in the chat. In many cases, the advertiser’s website is no longer visited.
Technically, this is made possible by PayPal’s new “Store Sync” feature. It syncs catalog and product data in a way that makes it machine-readable, up-to-date, and purchasable in AI shopping environments—while the advertiser remains the seller of record. Branding, availability, and pricing still lie with the shop; only the customer journey moves into the AI.
At the same time, PayPal is advancing this shift with Google. The partnership announced in September 2025 aims to establish standards and infrastructure for agentic shopping flows—including protocols for verified purchase mandates. For advertisers, this means one thing: the Newegg example won’t remain an isolated case.
What This Means for Reach and the Partner Landscape
As AI takes over the purchase process, traditional upper-funnel traffic loses its value. Large, generic content publishers—who’ve historically driven “walk-in traffic” through reach and comparison content—are becoming less relevant. AI aggregates information, filters offers, and delivers ready-to-buy recommendations. This reduces the need for users to visit external review or price comparison sites.
It’s a structural shift in attention. Those who’ve primarily monetized through volume at the top of the funnel may become sidelined in AI-driven journeys. At the same time, new touchpoints are emerging within AI interfaces—such as integrated coupon or deal logics—that further reduce the need to redirect to publishers.
Relationship Quality Becomes the Real Lever
In agentic commerce environments, the most important connection is no longer the link—it’s the depth of the partnership. On one side, advertisers and platforms must be far more tightly integrated than before. Store Sync catalogs must be clean, prices and stock levels accurate in real time, and product attributes structured in a way AI can easily interpret. Anyone who cuts corners here won’t be prominently recommended by the AI—or may fail to deliver at critical moments.
On the other side, the role of affiliate partners is changing.
AI systems curate more rigorously and favor sources that are consistent, up-to-date, and professionally precise. Platforms will increasingly select partners based on trustworthiness, data quality, and content value. Affiliates will only remain relevant if they provide real added value to the AI—beyond generic “Top 10” lists. This turns the platform-partner relationship into a symbiotic one: the partner delivers expertise and context, while the platform ensures visibility and a seamless transaction infrastructure.
Opportunities for Specialists – and What Advertisers Can Learn from Them
While generalists are losing reach, specialists are gaining ground. AI assistants tend to quote and prioritize niche sources more heavily because they signal clear expertise and better serve concrete purchase intent. This often results in higher conversion rates for “purchase-ready queries”—requests made right before a buying decision.
This creates a clear action plan for advertisers.
First, your product and offer landscape must be made AI-ready—both technically and in terms of content. Store Sync mechanisms, structured feeds, reliable attributes, and a closed fulfillment loop are now essential.
Second, partner management is shifting from “buying reach” to “building a few, but excellent relationships.” Small, highly focused publishers or creators are becoming a more powerful lever in AI funnels than large portals lacking deep expertise.
And it’s exactly these high-impact partners that advertisers will find on selecdoo.
The Big Picture
This shift is like moving from a self-service supermarket to a premium concierge experience.
In the past, big billboards and walk-in traffic mattered. Today, the customer delegates to an AI concierge—one that only works with advertisers who deliver flawless data and processes, and only trusts advisors with proven expertise. If you’re not directly, quality-assured, and AI-readable within the system, you simply won’t exist in the new network.
That’s exactly why the Newegg integration isn’t a one-off—it’s a preview.
Agentic Commerce is reshaping power, funnel logic, and partnership dynamics. If you want to scale sustainably in 2026, now is the time to build the infrastructure and relationships that will drive success in AI-powered journeys.
Further Reflections
The agentic AI economy is not just changing where purchases happen—it’s redefining which data flows and partnerships will remain viable in the future of e-commerce. While in-chat transactions reduce friction for users and unlock new revenue potential for advertisers, they also shift the playing field for reach, brand perception, and the development of direct customer relationships.
From this new logic emerge three strategic consequence areas that go well beyond the checkout—and need to be addressed early on.
AI Transactions Make It Harder to Build First-Party Data in the Shop CRM
There’s also a second, very tangible effect that’s becoming critical for advertisers: as more customer journeys and checkouts take place within AI interfaces, direct access to first-party data becomes increasingly difficult.
Users no longer leave the AI, don’t fill out shop forms, and are therefore less likely to provide email addresses for newsletters, loyalty programs, or CRM flows. The same trend is already visible with WhatsApp: if the purchase intent is fulfilled directly within the AI chat, the chances of a user voluntarily switching to a separate WhatsApp dialogue—and opting in—drop significantly.
This isn’t a theory—it’s the logical outcome of in-chat transactions like those seen in the Newegg/PayPal/Perplexity setup.
Lead Campaigns via Creators Bring Back Opt-Ins and Enable GDPR-Compliant CRM
The solution isn’t “more performance traffic”—it’s lead mechanics that activate where attention actually happens. Lead campaigns that are purpose-built for opt-ins (e.g., creator-driven giveaways, exclusive drops, pre-launch waitlists, trial access, memberships, or special benefit codes in exchange for registration) bring users back into a privacy-compliant, first-party relationship.
These types of campaigns can be built and scaled through selecdoo, because selecdoo provides exactly the kind of partner layer that gains relevance in AI funnels: influencers and creators who make brands visible, build trust, and guide users toward clear, voluntary opt-ins.
This keeps GDPR-compliant CRM building possible—even as purchases increasingly take place outside of the shop’s website.
Major Content Magazines Are Already Losing Reach Due to Google’s AI Search
At the same time, pressure on large content magazines is mounting: Google’s AI Overviews are already causing significant traffic losses, as users now get core information directly in the search interface and are less likely to click through to publisher sites.
Multiple studies report sharp drops in click-through rates on organic results when AI Overviews are displayed. According to Ahrefs and Digital Content Next, top-ranking results see an average of 34.5% fewer clicks for overview-triggering keywords—while other analyses show even steeper declines depending on the query type.
This explains why generalist publishers are currently feeling the squeeze, while specialized creators and niche partners are gaining traction in AI-driven journeys.