Google has announced a new open standard called the Universal Commerce Protocol to let AI agents handle shopping tasks across multiple stages of the buying process, as the company and its partners move to connect discovery, checkout, and post purchase support through a single system.
What The Universal Commerce Protocol Does
The Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP, was announced at the National Retail Federation conference and developed with companies including Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart. Google said the standard allows agents to operate across different parts of the customer journey, from finding products to managing support after a purchase, without requiring separate connections for each step.
Google said UCP will work alongside other agent based standards it supports, including Agent Payments Protocol, Agent2Agent, and Model Context Protocol. Agents and businesses can choose specific extensions of the protocol that match their needs.
Use In Google Search And Gemini
Google said it will soon use UCP for eligible product listings in AI mode in Google Search and in the Gemini apps. This will let shoppers in the United States complete purchases directly while they are researching products. Users will be able to pay using Google Pay and share shipping details stored in Google Wallet. Google said PayPal will also be added as a payment option.
Retailer And Platform Participation
Shopify chief executive Tobi Lutke said agent based systems can help match shoppers with products they might not have searched for directly, describing this as a form of product discovery driven by specific interests. Shopify also announced a similar shopping integration with Microsoft Copilot that allows users to check out within conversational interfaces.
Discounts And Merchant Tools
Google said brands will be able to offer special discounts to users when they are seeking product recommendations in AI mode. For example, when someone searches for a product such as a rug with specific requirements, brands can configure campaigns to present a discount at that point in the process.
The company is also adding new data attributes in Merchant Center so sellers can better feature their products in AI search results. Google said companies including PayPal and OpenAI are also working on ways to make products more visible inside AI chatbot responses, while startups are helping merchants surface their items within AI generated answers.
Business Agents And Customer Support
Google is now letting merchants integrate branded AI powered Business Agents into Google Search to answer customer questions. The company said retailers such as Lowe’s, Michael’s, Poshmark, and Reebok are already using the tool. Google also introduced Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, a suite designed to handle shopping and customer service for retailers and restaurants.
Competitors including Meta and Shopify are also developing AI based tools for business support and customer engagement.
Wider Market Context
Technology companies including Google, Amazon, Walmart, and OpenAI are releasing new standards and products to embed AI across both consumer and merchant sides of online shopping. Adobe said earlier this month that traffic from generative AI to retailer websites rose by 693.4 percent during the holiday season, though it did not say how much of that traffic resulted in purchases.
Featured image credits: Searchbug
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