How we’re helping retailers thrive with new Universal Commerce Protocol features and AI tools on Google
At Google I/O, we shared our vision for the future of agentic commerce, anchored by our new Universal Cart, Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). We co-developed UCP to help make agentic commerce available to everyone, and today, we’re taking a major step toward that. We’re bringing more UCP features to Google and launching new tools to help merchants succeed in the agentic commerce era.
Introducing new UCP-powered features across Google
Our new Universal Cart is a truly intelligent shopping cart that works across retailers and across services like Search, Gemini and more. When shoppers are ready to buy, UCP makes checkout from their cart smooth. They can check out with Google Pay in just a few taps with many of their favorite brands, or transfer items to the merchant's site to complete their purchase. Shoppers can try these select checkout features soon across retailers like Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair and Shopify merchants such as Fenty and Steve Madden. Regardless of how a shopper chooses to buy, the retailer always remains the merchant of record.
Making AI shopping easier with new UCP-powered features on Google
Scaling and expanding our UCP integrations
A key part of scaling agentic commerce is bringing it to more people, in more ways — so we’re starting to bring the power of UCP to your ad campaigns. Soon, when brands who have integrated UCP show exclusive promotions with Direct Offers or run Shopping ads on YouTube with product feeds on Demand Gen campaigns, people can easily buy on the spot. And shoppers looking for more flexibility will even have the option to buy now and pay later, with new Affirm and Klarna options embedded directly into Google Pay.
Bringing UCP-powered checkout to Shopping ads on YouTube
This momentum extends globally — and to new industries. UCP-powered checkout will roll out across Canada and Australia in the coming months, and later to the U.K. We’re also partnering with industry leaders to bring the protocol to entirely new categories, including hotel booking and local food delivery. In the coming months, people will be able to easily book their next hotel right from AI Mode in Search, or order food delivery from a conversation in Google Maps.
Expanding the Universal Commerce Protocol to new categories with industry leaders
Helping shoppers discover your business in the AI era
People are coming to AI Mode and Gemini to shop every day, and to help brands connect with those shoppers, we’re introducing new insights and tools that will help them get discovered. The new AI performance insights tool in Merchant Center gives you a clear view into how your brand is performing on AI surfaces by comparing your share of voice against similar brands. It's rolling out in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the U.S. in the coming months.
Introducing AI performance insights in Merchant Center
Strong product descriptions are critical for brands to get discovered in the AI era. Now, retailers globally can use conversational attributes to update their product descriptions to reflect the more conversational way people search. We’re also building agentic capabilities into our tools for retailers, like Ask Advisor, a new collaborator available right in Merchant Center. Coming soon, the new feature will share insights tailored to your business goals, complete tasks for you and connect across Google Ads and Google Analytics, so you can manage your listings and campaigns with ease.
We believe in building an agentic commerce future where both shoppers and businesses can thrive. Our role has always been to connect shoppers directly with businesses — and that’s guiding us in the agentic era, too.