---
id: "quote-agent-shelf-competition"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Implications for Leaders"]
tags: ["strategy", "competition"]
related: ["concept-agent-shelf"]
speakers: ["Mark J. Greeven", "Fabrice Beaulieu", "Wei Wei"]
sources: ["geo"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-geo"
originDay: 3
articleStem: "hbr-ext-15-china-ai-agents-commerce"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/research-what-chinas-ai-agents-reveal-about-the-future-of-commerce"
sourceTitle: "Research: What China’s AI Agents Reveal About the Future of Commerce"
---
# Competing for the Agent Shelf

> "In agentic commerce, the primary bottleneck shifts from human attention to agent selection. The decisive question becomes: Under what conditions will an agent reliably include you, even before a customer sees alternatives?"
> — [[entity-mark-j-greeven]], [[entity-fabrice-beaulieu]] and [[entity-wei-wei]]

## Why it matters
The operational test for [[concept-agent-shelf]] and the framing question for strategic move #1 in [[framework-strategic-implications-leaders]]. If you can't answer "under what conditions will an agent include me," you have no shelf strategy.