In brief. The Agentic Selling Index is an index from 0 to 100 that measures how ready a company is to sell through AI assistants and agents: how much it knows about how they read it and what they bring, and how much it invests, in budget and in attitude. It is published by the Veliu Research Lab.
- of brands would adopt an AI sales agent of their own within 12 months
- 74%
- of brands know, with data, how AI assistants read their site
- 39%
- of brands have no budget yet for agentic commerce
- 70%
What is the Agentic Selling Index?
The index answers one question: is a company ready for agentic selling? That is, to sell to people and to the AI agents that search and buy for them, in its own voice and on its own terms.
To answer it, the index holds together two parts that can be checked. The first is Measurement: how much the company knows about how AI assistants read it and what they bring. The second is Investment: the budget it has set aside and the attitude it brings to AI. A company that measures everything and invests scores 100; one that has never checked and does not invest scores 0.
It is published by the Veliu Research Lab. Veliu is an agentic commerce lab building the Brand Agent: the agent a brand sells through, to people and to AI agents, in its own voice. This is the index’s first edition, drawn from brands and agencies in Italy.
Why we built it
On the buyer’s side, AI assistants and agents search, compare and complete the purchase. On the seller’s side there was no measure. Every company was left to wonder on its own whether it was early or late, with no common yardstick.
An index gives that yardstick: the same score for everyone, computed by the same rules, repeatable over time. To sell through agents, a brand has to know how they read it and decide how much to invest; the index says where it stands on both.
How we collected the data
With a survey that is not a form. A Veliu AI agent runs it, one question at a time: at most 11 questions, about three minutes, answered with buttons. At the end it hands each respondent a snapshot of their company on the three scores.
We opened it on 11 October 2026. On 21 October, Gianmaria Monteleone, Veliu’s founder and CEO, presented the first answers at the Netcomm Focus Digital Marketing & Channel Strategy in Milan. More than half of the brands answered that day.
Brands and agencies selling in Italy answered, of every size, from under €5 million to over €100 million in turnover, one answer per company. The sample chose itself and is not weighted: it describes those who answered, not every company in Italy.
First results: a preview
These are the first numbers of the Agentic Selling Index for brands selling in Italy, and they say one thing: the intent is there, the measurement is not yet. The full numbers come with the full edition of the index.
- Would adopt an AI sales agent of their own within 12 months74%
- Know, with data, how AI assistants read their site39%
- Have no budget yet for agentic commerce70%
Share of brands
| Finding | Share of brands |
|---|---|
| Would adopt within 12 months an AI agent of their own that builds the shop window for their customers, in their tone of voice | 74% |
| Know, with data, how AI assistants read their site | 39% |
| Have no budget yet for agentic commerce | 70% |
Source: Agentic Selling Index by the Veliu Research Lab, a survey of brands selling in Italy, 11 to 21 October 2026.
The keynote of 21 October was about the Brand Agent, and the answers that came after it are not read separately.
How is the Agentic Selling Index calculated?
Every answer in the survey carries a fixed score from 0 to 100. Measurement and Investment are the mean of each company’s valid answers, and the index is the mean of the two. “I don’t know” answers stay out of the mean.
Agentic Selling Index
The mean of Measurement and Investment, 0 to 100
Measurement
How much the company knows about how AI assistants read it and what they bring
| Answer | Points |
|---|---|
| Yes, with data | 100 |
| An idea, but no data | 50 |
| Never checked | 0 |
| Answer | Points |
|---|---|
| Yes, whether or not any arrive | 100 |
| No | 0 |
Investment
The budget for agentic commerce and the attitude to AI
| Answer | Points |
|---|---|
| Yes, any amount | 100 |
| No | 0 |
| Answer | Points |
|---|---|
| Proactive | 100 |
| Exploratory | 50 |
| Wait and see | 0 |
Each part is the mean of the points of its two questions. “I don’t know” answers stay out of the mean.
Expected impact
Outside the indexHow much do you expect AI assistants to move your sales in the next 12 months?
From 1 to 5, that is from 0 (“not at all”) to 100 (“decisively”). It is read beside the index: it says how much a company expects, not how ready it is.
An example. A company that has an idea of how AI assistants read it, but no data (50), and tracks the visits they bring (100) has a Measurement of 75. If it has no budget yet (0) and an exploratory attitude (50), its Investment is 25. Its index is the mean of the two: 50.
How to take part
Your answer is missing
The survey is open to brands and agencies selling in Italy, and it runs in Italian. Every new answer goes into the index.
- 01
Answer
Up to 11 questions, about 3 minutes, with buttons. One question at a time, with a Veliu AI agent.
- 02
Get your snapshot
At the end you see where your company stands on Measurement, Investment and Expected impact.
- 03
Ask for a reading of your site
With a work email, a free reading of your site through the eyes of AI agents. If you run an agency, of a client’s site, with your name next to Veliu’s.
Presented at the Netcomm Focus
Keynote · 21 October 2026Netcomm Focus Digital Marketing & Channel Strategy
Gianmaria Monteleone
Veliu’s founder and CEO · Palazzo Giureconsulti, Milan
The first answers of the index were presented here, in a keynote by Gianmaria Monteleone, at an event of Netcomm, the Italian e-commerce association. Veliu is the event’s Main Partner. Netcomm’s pages are in Italian.
Photo from the Netcomm Focus, 21 October 2026
“What we argue is that every brand needs a brand agent, and that the brand agent is the brand’s representative both inside AI conversations and on its own site.”
Frequently asked questions
What is the Agentic Selling Index?
An index from 0 to 100 that measures how ready a company is to sell through AI assistants and agents: how much it knows about how they read it and what they bring (Measurement), and how much it invests, in budget and in attitude (Investment). It is published by the Veliu Research Lab.
Are brands in Italy ready to sell through AI agents?
Not yet. In the first edition of the Agentic Selling Index, 74% of brands selling in Italy would adopt an AI sales agent of their own within 12 months, but only 39% know, with data, how AI assistants read their site, and 70% have no budget yet for agentic commerce. The data come from the Veliu Research Lab survey, from 11 to 21 October 2026; the sample chose itself and is not weighted.
How is it calculated?
Every answer in the survey carries a fixed score from 0 to 100. Measurement and Investment are the mean of each company’s valid answers, and the index is the mean of the two. Expected impact, how much a company expects AI to move its sales, is measured separately and stays out of the index.
Who answered?
For the first edition, brands and agencies selling in Italy, one answer per company, from 11 to 21 October 2026. The sample chose itself and is not weighted.
I run an agency: can I take part?
Yes, if you work in Italy. The agencies’ questions are about their clients, and at the end you can ask for a free reading of a client’s site, with your agency’s name next to Veliu’s.
Who publishes the index?
The Research Lab of Veliu, an agentic commerce lab building the Brand Agent: the agent a brand sells through, to people and to AI agents, in its own voice.
What comes next?
Collection stays open and the index is updated with the new answers: this page will say so each time. To take part, the survey is at veliu.com/survey, in Italian, for brands and agencies selling in Italy.
How to cite the index
Veliu Research Lab (2026). Agentic Selling Index 2026: first results. https://veliu.com/en/agentic-selling-index
Source
A survey by the Veliu Research Lab, presented at the Netcomm Focus in Milan on 21 October 2026.
