Forrester Predicts AI Agents Will Influence 75% of B2B Purchases
Forrester forecasts that AI agents will drive most B2B purchase decisions by 2027, while rising costs will force B2C leaders to scale back AI initiatives.
Forrester released its 2027 predictions for B2B and B2C markets, forecasting that AI agents will influence 75% of B2B purchase decisions. While AI will manage supplier discovery and contract-renewal analysis, autonomous buying will remain limited to high-volume, low-risk purchases. This shift is expected to paradoxically double human interactions, as business buyers seek to validate AI recommendations and verify provider claims. The firm warns that two-thirds of providers risk losing deals if their claims cannot be verified through AI-assisted tools.
In the B2C sector, Forrester predicts that rising AI costs will force marketing leaders to scale back one-third of their AI initiatives. This trend stems from martech vendors adopting usage-based pricing models that charge for every automated workflow. To manage this transition, brands are expected to increase CX staffing by 20% for specialized roles like data scientists, while 50% of brands will reprioritize human-generated content to maintain authenticity.
Internal organizational shifts are also expected. Many Chief Marketing Officers may face reduced capacity after cutting up to 25% of roles based on overestimated AI productivity gains. Additionally, one in 20 consumers in the United States and United Kingdom may shift toward conversation-based agentic commerce. Sharyn Leaver, Forrester's chief research officer, noted that the defining challenge for leaders will be making deliberate choices about what to automate and where human judgment still matters.
