Alipay launches AI commerce platform for merchants
Tue, 18th Aug 2026 (Today)
Alipay has launched what it describes as China's first full-stack agentic commerce platform for merchants, centred on tools designed to move businesses from digital operations to AI-powered operations.
The platform offers AI business tools that merchants can use individually or together. For businesses with existing digital operations but no AI services, Alipay says the system can convert pages, products and service workflows into agent-ready skills and MCP tools. For merchants already using AI-enabled services, it supports AI agent creation, skill orchestration, task execution and operations management.
The launch marks another step in Alipay's push to make AI agents part of everyday commercial activity in China. The platform also incorporates its payment, identity verification, risk management and service fulfilment tools, giving merchants a single route into its wider AI service network.
Speaking about the market, Cyril Han outlined Alipay's view of the near-term opportunity.
"Agentic commerce is poised for rapid growth over the next 6 to 12 months. AI agents will become a new interface connecting hundreds of millions of users with tens of millions of merchants, unlocking a new intent-driven commercial ecosystem. Through trust, connectivity, and an open ecosystem, Alipay will help build a new generation of AI-powered services and support agentic commerce growth," said Cyril Han, Chief Executive Officer, Ant Group.
A central part of the strategy is Ah Bao, Alipay's super service AI agent, introduced in June. According to Alipay, Ah Bao lets consumers access more than 10,000 AI-powered everyday services through natural-language conversations, including paying utility bills, booking pet services and finding electric vehicle charging stations.
Retail brands including KFC, Mixue Bingcheng and Luckin Coffee have already integrated services into Ah Bao, according to Alipay. Users can place orders and make payments by chatting with the AI agent instead of moving through multiple apps or menus.
Device reach
The new merchant platform is designed to connect services to the Ah Bao ecosystem through Alipay's AHA protocol. The protocol supports interoperability across agents and devices, allowing merchants to make services available beyond Alipay's own user base through smartphones, cars, AI glasses and other AI applications.
As of August 2026, Ah Bao had connected with five leading smartphone brands that together represent more than 70% of the market, along with 16 leading carmakers, according to the company. That suggests Alipay aims to place its service layer at the centre of a broad consumer technology network rather than limiting it to payments or mobile apps.
Jun Li, President of Alipay Business Group, said the spread of smart devices is changing how consumers access services.
"As smart devices become increasingly widespread, intelligent services are becoming more contextual, real-time, and universally accessible, with seamless connectivity across devices and AI agents making service entry points available everywhere," said Li.
Li said Alipay would continue to strengthen the infrastructure for industry-wide AI transformation and work with partners to build a broader agentic commerce ecosystem.
Partner network
Recent partnerships show how Alipay wants third-party agents to call on Ah Bao to complete consumer tasks. One example is a system-level partnership with foundation model company StepFun, allowing users to access daily life services through Ah Bao either on StepFun's AI-native terminal or through its large model.
In a demonstration described by Alipay, a user asked Amoo, an AI agent on StepFun's StepX Neo smartphone, to find a nearby EV charger and order coffee for home delivery. Alipay said the agent interpreted the request, weighed factors including route and price, then activated charging and coffee agents on Ah Bao to produce an order ready for confirmation.
OPPO has also partnered with Alipay to connect its Breeno AI agent to services available through Ah Bao. In the example provided, a user watching a short video about a film could ask Breeno to buy a cinema ticket, after which Ah Bao would manage the process from selecting a venue and showtime to completing the booking.
Merchant incentives
Alongside the platform launch, Alipay introduced an AI Business Incentive Program aimed at developers and merchants entering the AI agent ecosystem. The programme includes 100 million free tokens per user, subsidies for tokens generated through real transactions and reduced payment fees, according to the company.
The broader context is Alipay's established scale in China's consumer and merchant economy. It says it connects more than one billion consumers with more than 80 million merchants across the country and supports more than 10,000 services spanning travel, healthcare, tourism and entertainment.
That scale gives Alipay a large base from which to test whether AI agents can become a mainstream route for shopping, bookings and local services. It also places the company in direct competition with other consumer platforms and device makers seeking to become the interface through which users complete tasks.