Firmly has introduced Firmly Connect, a no-code solution built to simplify the setup of agentic commerce for retailers. The platform automates the onboarding process, removing the lengthy development work that merchants previously faced when connecting to AI-powered shopping agents, online marketplaces, and specialized retail applications.
How It Works
The tool enables retailers, including Backcountry and Best Buy, to activate agentic commerce features in under 45 minutes. Merchants simply verify their business credentials, choose their sales channels, and upload their product catalogs while maintaining full authority over pricing, inventory levels, and distribution decisions. At its heart, the Firmly Agent Control Center offers a unified dashboard where retailers can oversee agent interactions, manage product listings, and track transactions across all AI shopping environments.
Standard agentic commerce integrations typically demand 3 to 12 months of effort, require teams of 12 to 18 specialists, and incur costs ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 per channel. Firmly Connect slashes these requirements to a fraction of the original time and expense, cutting integration costs by an estimated 95%. By handling system integration and automated testing, the platform eliminates the need for merchants to allocate internal engineering resources.
Kevin Lenau, president of the Backcountry brand group, described the solution as a “major advancement” in scaling agentic commerce. He emphasized that the platform removed the need for dedicated engineering teams or infrastructure adjustments, obstacles that had previously restricted participation in AI-driven retail channels.
Core Capabilities and Strategic Alliances
Firmly Connect operates on three foundational principles: protocol standardization, a universal infrastructure layer, and a merchant-of-record framework. The platform supports multiple emerging protocols, including MCP, AP2, ACP, UCP, A2A, and KYA, allowing merchants to establish a single connection and distribute products across diverse ecosystems without repeatedly rebuilding integrations. The horizontal infrastructure ensures seamless compatibility with existing commerce systems, while the merchant-of-record model preserves brand ownership, customer relationships, and access to first-party data.
The company has also formed a partnership with Aurus, a global enterprise payment platform specializing in omni-commerce solutions. This collaboration integrates Aurus’s payment infrastructure with agentic commerce capabilities, letting retailers expand their product catalogs and checkout processes into AI-driven environments without requiring additional technical modifications. Aurus currently supports major retailers and grocery chains operating in over 25 countries, marking this as the company’s first foray into agentic commerce integration.