The hottest new trend in the world of e-commerce is AI or agentic shopping. ChatGPT got a shopping experience all the way back in April last year, and followed it up with a shopping research tool in November. A few weeks later, Amazon also introduced conversational shopping features powered by its new Alexa+ assistant, building atop the foundations laid by the Rufus chatbot.
Just a few days ago, Microsoft also integrated a dedicated shopping and checkout system within Copilot. Google is now stepping into the arena with an expansive set of partners to enable shopping with Gemini and in the AI Overviews, as well. The first step in that direction is the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new standard that covers everything from discovering and buying products to after-sales support.
What does that even mean?
Well, let’s say you look for a “bag with a leather strap and a silver chain” in Google Search. When the product recommendations are surfaced in the AI Mode, you will see a buy button underneath the product listing. Tap on it, and you will be directly taken to the checkout window, where you can pay using Google Pay.
In case you click on a product but don’t have an account on the seller platform, you can use the Google Account login facility and register as a customer with a single click. All the payment details and shipping information will be pulled from the Google Wallet.
Additionally, the whole shopping experience will be handled within the Gemini app or AI mode on desktop. You won’t even need to open an app or website. And down the road, PayPal payments will be enabled, as well.
What next?
Google’s partnerships with e-commerce platforms and payment service providers are pretty extensive. The company says it will offer the agentic shopping experience to users across the world.
“UCP was co-developed with industry leaders including Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart, and endorsed by more than 20 others across the ecosystem like Adyen, American Express, Best Buy, Flipkart, Macy’s Inc., Mastercard, Stripe, The Home Depot, Visa and Zalando,” Google adds.
Google says it is also working to enable loyalty point rewards with the new shopping experience that can be accessed within Gemini on mobile and AI Mode in Google Search.