Bot protection systems block Blend's AI shopping agent at 29 of 200 retailers
· 1h ago · Originally reported by PPC Land
Testing of Blend's AI shopping agent across 200 retailers found 29 refused access. Large retailers blocked the agent at a 20% rate, while emerging retailers did so at just 2.5%. Notably, all 24 refusers with a readable robots.txt file technically permit AI crawlers, raising questions about who configured the blocks.
Why it matters
As AI shopping agents start browsing and buying on behalf of consumers, retailers' bot defenses must decide whether these agents are legitimate visitors or unwanted traffic — a split that could shape how e-commerce works.
Explain it like I’m new here
It's like a store's security guard turning away a personal shopper at 29 out of 200 shops — and the shops' posted signs actually said personal shoppers were welcome.
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