IAB Tech Lab has published AAMP 3.0, a standard for machine-to-machine buying, while Amazon moves to block rival shopping agents and Google brings agentic checkout to Australia. The real risk for brands is not being late but becoming dependent on an agent layer they do not control.
The Take: The infrastructure for agent-driven buying just took a big step, and the platforms are fighting to own the agent that will sit between you and the customer. IAB Tech Lab has published a standard for machine-to-machine ad buying while Amazon moves to lock rival shopping agents out of its store. For Australian brands the question is shifting from whether agents will transact to whose agent you end up depending on.
What to watch: Last week IAB Tech Lab released AAMP 3.0, a standard for how buyers and sellers move from brief to purchase through agents. IAB Australia has told local sellers the stakes in plain terms, that a brand an agent cannot read is absent from the transaction rather than merely behind. The rails are being laid and the entry rules are being written at the same time.
The history: Watch who controls the agent. Amazon has moved to block Meta's Muse shopping agent and has shut out or sued agents from Google, OpenAI and Perplexity, because whoever owns the agent owns the shortlist. Google is bringing its own agentic checkout to Australia, so the fight over the middle layer is arriving here rather than staying offshore.
Spent online by Australians in 2025, the pool these competing agents are lining up to transact on (Australia Post)
What breaks: The danger here is dependence on a layer you do not control. If one agent becomes how people shop and it cannot read you, or charges you to be read, you inherit the same rented-audience trap the big platforms have sprung before. Stop there. The agent is the new gatekeeper, and a gatekeeper sets the toll.
For Australian operators: Decide which agent standards you will support rather than waiting to be told. Keep your product data clean and portable so no single platform can hold it hostage. Track AAMP and Google's checkout rollout the way you once tracked a Google algorithm update, because this changes distribution and not just tactics. Protect a direct line to your customer that does not run through anyone's agent. Email, a loyalty base and your own site are each worth more the moment an agent stands between you and the sale.