Five Things Every Manufacturer Should Do This Quarter to Prepare for Agentic Commerce

You don't need to rebuild your technology stack to start preparing for agentic commerce. Here are five concrete steps you can take this quarter, regardless of your current digital maturity.

1. Export and review your product data

Pull your full product catalogue into a spreadsheet and assess its completeness. For each product, can you answer: What are its key specifications? What's the standard pricing (even a range)? What's the typical lead time? What certifications or compliance does it meet? Are there GTINs, MPNs, or other standard identifiers?

If the answers are scattered across PDFs, emails, and people's heads, that's your first gap. AI agents need this data structured and accessible to discover and evaluate you.

2. Add Schema.org markup to your website

Schema.org provides a standardised vocabulary for structured data on web pages. Adding Product schema (in JSON-LD format) to your product pages tells AI agents what you sell, at what price, and whether it's available.

This is not a major development project. For a WordPress or Shopify site, plugins like Yoast or JSON-LD for SEO can generate the markup automatically. For a static site, a developer can add the JSON-LD scripts in an afternoon.

3. Register with Google Merchant Centre

Even if you don't sell online, registering your products with Google Merchant Centre makes them discoverable through Google's AI-powered commerce features, including the emerging UCP infrastructure. A basic product feed (which can be generated from a structured spreadsheet) is the entry requirement.

4. Map your distributor dependency

Calculate what percentage of your revenue flows through each distribution channel. Understand what margin you surrender at each stage. Identify which products could realistically be sold direct if an AI agent connected a buyer to you.

This isn't about cutting distributors immediately. It's about understanding the economics so you can make informed decisions as the agentic commerce channel grows.

5. Subscribe to the agentic commerce conversation

The protocol landscape, platform features, and agent capabilities are evolving monthly. Following the developments (even passively) puts you ahead of the vast majority of manufacturers who aren't paying attention yet.

Our newsletter, This Week in Agentic Commerce, covers these developments weekly with a specific focus on what they mean for manufacturers and B2B businesses.