From Gemini checkout to UCP: Everything Google announced on AI shopping

Google on Sunday, January 11, announced a major expansion of its AI-powered shopping tools, including a new feature that lets users buy products directly within its Gemini AI chatbot using Google Pay.

The new checkout feature lets users buy products as they are researching about it on Google. It is currently available for select product listings in AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app by eligible US-based retailers, the search giant said in a blog post.

Notably, this feature is built on the foundation of a new open standard for agentic commerce called the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) that has been developed by Google in collaboration with e-commerce giants and payment processors to enable end-to-end AI-driven shopping experiences, from product discovery to post-purchase support.

Google’s announcement underscores how major tech companies – including Amazon, OpenAI, and Perplexity – are racing to turn AI chatbots into one-stop shopping destinations where users can browse and buy products without leaving the chat window.

It also reflects a broader push to establish a viable monetisation path for AI products, whose ability to generate long-term returns has increasingly come under scrutiny. The widespread adoption of AI-powered shopping tools hinges on a fundamental shift in consumers’ shopping behaviour, especially when many have grown accustomed to e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart. However, Google’s new UCP standard lays the groundwork for AI-driven commerce.

“We believe in an agentic commerce future that is open, collaborative and built for everyone to succeed,” Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president of Google ads and commerce, wrote in a blog post. “It’s very important to have a standardised way so we can scale these things and everyone can be prepared for all the various steps to happen. Businesses can pick and choose what they want so there’s flexibility for them,” Srinivasan was further quoted as saying by CNBC.

UCP: As mentioned earlier, the UCP is similar to existing industry protocols like Agent2Agent (A2A), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). It is designed to serve as a common language for AI agents and other LLM-powered systems to communicate and take action across user interfaces, retailer websites, and payment platforms.

Business Agent: This feature lets users chat with a brand’s AI chatbot directly within Google Search. “It’s like a virtual sales associate that can answer product questions in a brand’s voice, enabling retailers to connect with consumers during critical shopping moments and help drive sales,” Google said. Retailers can also customise this branded agent in Merchant Center based on their specific needs.

Direct Offers: This is a retailer-focused tool that lets brands show exclusive offers for users — like a special 20 per cent discount — directly in AI Mode in Google Search. “With Direct Offers, retailers set up relevant offers they want to feature in their campaign settings and Google will use AI to determine when an offer is relevant to display,” the search giant said. While the feature will initially cover only discounts, it will be expanded to other attributes such as bundling offers or free shipping.

Updates to Merchant Center: Google also announced several new data attributes in Merchant Center such as answers to common product questions and compatible accessories or substitutes in order to complement retailers’ existing data feeds beyond search keywords.

Gemini Enterprise for CX: Another retailer-focused tool unveiled by Google is Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience (CX) which is aimed at allowing retailers to deploy pre-built, configurable AI agents that are capable of managing the entire customer lifecycle from initial product discovery to autonomous post-purchase resolution. For instance, a food ordering agent allows restaurants to integrate natural language ordering features across mobile, kiosks, and in-car systems with intelligent upselling and real-time menu synchronisation, Google said.

Last year, Google introduced an open protocol called Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) for transactions on agentic payment systems, along with other shopping-related agentic AI tools.