Agentic Commerce Optimization (ACO)
Agentic commerce optimization (ACO) is the discipline of preparing a store's product data so AI shopping agents can read it, judge it against what a shopper asked for, and act on it. It is SEO rewritten for a buyer that is a machine rather than a person.
How it works
An AI shopping agent does not browse your store the way a person does. It reads the data underneath your page: the product name, price, availability, category, attributes, and policies. ACO is the practice of getting that data complete and machine-readable, letting AI crawlers reach it, and publishing it into a product feed where one exists. It overlaps with answer engine optimization and generative engine optimization, but the target is a transaction, not just a citation.
A commerce example
Two stores sell the same jacket. One lists it with a category, a full product identifier, material and size as structured fields, and a readable return policy. The other has a pretty page but none of that as data. When a shopper asks an assistant for "a waterproof jacket under $150," the agent can describe and compare the first store's jacket and recommends it. The second never enters the comparison.
What this means for your store
Most of ACO is data hygiene an owner can do without a developer: complete your product fields, publish shipping and returns as structured data, and let the AI crawlers in. The fastest way to see where you stand is to run a free audit on one product page.