Alipay Launches China’s First Full-Stack Agentic Commerce Platform for AI-Powered Merchant Operations

Alipay has launched China’s first full-stack agentic commerce platform, signaling a fundamental shift from digital to AI-powered operations for millions of merchants. By integrating AI payment, trusted identity, and risk management into a unified agentic ecosystem, Alipay is positioning itself as the primary infrastructure provider for the next generation of intent-driven commerce.

What was announced

At the AI Ecosystem Partner Conference in Hangzhou, Alipay unveiled a comprehensive suite of AI business tools designed to lower the barrier for AI adoption. The platform allows merchants to transform existing digital pages and service workflows into agent-ready "Skills" and Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools. For those with established AI capabilities, the platform offers advanced skill orchestration, task execution, and customer insight management.

Central to this rollout is the AHA protocol, which facilitates cross-agent and cross-device interoperability. By integrating with Alipay’s super service AI agent, Ah Bao, merchants can extend their reach to consumers across smartphones, automobiles, AI glasses, and other smart applications. As of August 2026, Ah Bao has already connected with 16 leading automakers and five smartphone brands that represent over 70% of the market.

Major retail brands, including KFC, Luckin Coffee, and Mixue Bingcheng, have already integrated their services into the ecosystem. This allows users to complete complex tasks—such as ordering coffee or booking movie tickets—through natural language conversations without leaving their current application. To accelerate adoption, Alipay also introduced an AI Business Incentive Program, providing 100 million free tokens per user and subsidies for transaction-based tokens.

"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,"

Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group.

The companies involved

Alipay, the primary architect of this new platform, is a global leader in digital payments and services. It operates under the broader umbrella of Ant Group, which has been aggressively pivoting toward AI-integrated financial infrastructure. The platform relies on partnerships with hardware and software innovators to ensure cross-device functionality. This includes OPPO, a major global smartphone manufacturer, which has integrated its Breeno AI agent with Alipay’s Ah Bao to streamline service access for its user base.

The ecosystem also features StepFun, a foundation model company specializing in AI-native terminals. StepFun’s collaboration with Alipay, powered by the AHA protocol, enables its AI agent, Amoo, to execute multi-step commercial tasks across different service providers. On the merchant side, the platform is supported by high-volume retail entities like Luckin Coffee, a dominant player in the Chinese coffee market, and Mixue Bingcheng, alongside global fast-food giant KFC. These partnerships demonstrate the platform's ability to handle high-frequency, real-world transactions through autonomous agents.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed Alipay’s transition toward an AI-centric business model. In July 2026, we covered how Alipay Transforms Tap! Ecosystem into World’s First AI Agent-Powered Merchant Network, which served as a precursor to this full-stack launch. We also reported on the technical security underpinnings of this move when Ant Group Open-Sources SingGuard-NSFA to Secure Autonomous AI Agents. Furthermore, our coverage of the StepFun and Alipay Partner to Revolutionize AI Agent Integration for Everyday Tasks announcement highlighted the early system-level integrations that now power the Ah Bao ecosystem. We have also previously tracked the digital expansion of participating merchants, such as Luckin Coffee.

What this means

This launch is a decisive attempt by Alipay to move beyond the "super-app" model and become the "super-agent" infrastructure of the AI era. By creating the AHA protocol, Alipay is effectively building a new standard for how AI agents talk to one another, potentially sidelining traditional app-store gatekeepers. The pressure is now on traditional e-commerce platforms and search engines; if consumers can book travel, buy coffee, and pay bills through a single conversational interface like Ah Bao, the need for separate branded apps diminishes. The next 12 months will reveal if merchants are willing to cede direct UI control for the high-conversion promise of agentic commerce.