Google announces a new protocol to facilitate commerce using AI agents

Google contiguous announced a caller unfastened standard, called the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for AI agent-based shopping, astatine the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference.

The standard, developed with companies similar Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart, lets agents enactment crossed antithetic parts of lawsuit buying processes, including find and post-purchase support. The halfway thought is that the modular could facilitate these assorted parts of the process alternatively of requiring connections with antithetic agents.

Google said that it besides works with different agentic protocols, specified arsenic Agent Payments Protocol (A2P) — which Google announced past year — Agent2Agent (A2A), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). The institution specified that Agents and Businesses tin prime and take circumstantial extensions of the protocol that suits their needs.

Image Credits: Google

The institution said that it volition soon usage UCP for eligible Google merchandise listings successful AI mode successful hunt and the Gemini apps to fto shoppers cheque retired straight from U.S.-based retailers portion researching a product. Users volition beryllium capable to wage utilizing Google Pay and walk connected the shipping accusation saved successful the Google Wallet. Google said that it volition soon enactment PayPal arsenic a outgo option.

“This is 1 of the truly breathtaking parts astir agentic,” said Shopify CEO and laminitis Tobi Lutke. “It’s truly bully astatine uncovering radical who person circumstantial interests and uncovering the merchandise that is conscionable cleanable for them. Like, I would person ne'er searched for this product, but someway it recovered maine close connected the different side. This benignant of serendipity is wherever the champion of commerce happens.”

Notably, Shopify besides unveiled a akin integration with Microsoft Copilot for buying contiguous to fto customers cheque retired easy wrong the conversational flow.

In different consumer-facing change, Google said it volition present let brands to connection a peculiar discount to users portion they are looking for a merchandise proposal erstwhile utilizing the AI mode. For instance, if you are searching for a rug utilizing a query similar “I’m looking for a modern, stylish rug for a high-traffic eating room. I big a batch of meal parties, truthful I privation thing that is casual to clean,” brands tin acceptable up their run successful a mode to connection you a discount astatine that moment.

Image Credits: Google

The institution is besides giving users caller information attributes wrong the Merchant Center to person sellers diagnostic their items amended wrong AI hunt surfaces. Companies similar PayPal and OpenAI are besides moving connected having sellers beryllium much discoverable successful AI chatbot results. Startups similar the prompting company are besides moving with merchants to person their products aboveground wrong AI answers.

Google is present besides allowing merchants to integrate an AI-powered Business Agent wrong their websites to reply lawsuit questions. The institution noted that merchants similar Lowe’s, Michael’s, Poshmark, and Reebok are already utilizing this product. Competitors similar Meta and Shopify have been exploring AI-powered tools for businesses for lawsuit enactment and outreach.

The hunt elephantine besides announced Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience (CX), a suite to grip buying and lawsuit work for retailers and restaurants.

Companies similar Google, Amazon, Walmart, and OpenAI person been releasing caller standards and products to infuse AI into each spot of shopping, some connected the user and merchant side. Earlier successful the month, Adobe noted that postulation driven to seller sites by generative AI grew by 693.4% during the vacation season, though the study didn’t specify however overmuch of this postulation translated into sales.