AI agents, GEO and data quality: key takeaways from the 2026 online Comerciante survey

Payrexx: The Online Merchant Survey 2026 is finally here. Prof. Dr Darius Zumstein, can you summarise the three most important key findings for us?

Prof. Dr Darius Zumstein: The biggest highlight for me is clearly: AI agents are coming – and extremely fast. A year ago, this was hardly a topic; back then, it was mainly about using AI for individual use cases such as text, image, or video generation. Now, we are reaching an entirely new stage.

Secondly, discoverability in generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity has become essential. Every SME and every online comerciante must not only be found in classic search engines, but also in AI systems. A completely new marketing discipline is emerging here with Generative Engine Marketing (GEM) – consisting of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and, most recently, Generative Engine Advertising (GEA).

The third focus of our study was the level of automation: To what extent are processes in Swiss e-commerce businesses already manual, semi-automated, or fully automated, and where are they already using AI agents?

If you had to give specific recommendations for action: What should Swiss online shops ideally implement in their business starting tomorrow?

The first and most important thing is: Comerciantes must have control over their data. Product data, availability, delivery terms, and returns information must be available on the website in a clean and structured form. Every day, crawlers and bots from AI systems and search engines visit product detail pages. Anyone with poor data quality here will not only face problems with automation and digitalisation, but is simply not "agent-ready".

My appeal to comerciantes is therefore: Invest in data quality and interfaces! Technical standards such as UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) or MCP are evolving at lightning speed. It is important to keep an eye on these, regularly check how much traffic is already coming via AI systems, remain open and curious, invest in internal training, and establish clear responsibilities for AI within the company.

Big tech is simultaneously advancing rapidly. Which trends do you see with providers such as Google or OpenAI?

For example, Google introduced AI Mode in May, which has a direct impact on every marketing department. Additionally, Agentic Checkout was announced. In the US, it is already possible for consumers to place products directly into a universal shopping basket on Google and pay via Google Pay.

Payment service providers and online shops also need to ask themselves: What happens when customers conduct their transactions directly via AI systems or search engines in the future? Currently, most consumers use AI primarily for searching, comparing, and looking for deals. It will take a little longer before purchasing is completely delegated to agents. However, we are already clearly seeing this shift among younger target groups.

According to the Online Merchant Survey 2026, Payrexx is the most widely used PSP in Switzerland.

More than 470 comerciantes took part in the ninth edition of the Online Merchant Survey. What significance does the study have for the Swiss market?

It is the largest and only representative e-commerce study in Switzerland covering such a broad range of sectors – from food to home & living, sports, health, through to construction. From small hobby shops to major players such as Galaxus, Brack, or Zalando, everything is included.

For me as a researcher, it is particularly important to see where comerciantes are currently facing difficulties. The challenges have changed significantly: Following the pandemic years, the focus today is on a difficult market environment, global competition, Temu, price pressure, and the question of how to remain relevant to customers.

Do you have tips for comerciantes on how they can best network and stay informed?

First: Take part in studies, because sharing knowledge helps everyone! Second, the old rule applies: "Markets are conversations." Comerciantes should break out of their silos, attend industry events, join specialist groups, and cultivate their network – for example, within trade associations as well. And third: Use LinkedIn! In our connected world, isolation is the death of any trade.

Looking ahead: Which topics will be central to e-commerce and next year's survey?

Alongside technology, the human factor is once again coming strongly into focus. The key concept is Human in the Loop: How can humans and machines work together optimally? Which tasks are delegated, and where do humans retain control? It is about AI sovereignty, critical thinking, transparency, data protection, and how organisations and teams adapt sustainably.

In addition, this development offers enormous opportunities for SMEs. With modern tools such as code assistants, even small teams can build innovative solutions and prototypes without massive IT budgets. If small SMEs make clever use of these tools, they can keep pace with the big players brilliantly.