TL;DR: Google just announced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard for agentic commerce that works across the entire shopping journey, from discovery and buying to post-purchase support.
Let’s dive in further. UCP is designed to let AI agents move seamlessly from product discovery to checkout without leaving Google’s ecosystem. Alongside it, Google is introducing Business Agent, branded AI shopping assistants that live directly on the search results page, plus a new Direct Offers ad pilot built specifically for AI-driven shopping moments.
Together, this isn’t just another product update. It’s Google reshaping how buying happens, and most critically: who controls it. Let’s break down what’s happening, why it matters, and what brands need to start thinking about now.
First: What Is Agentic Commerce?
Agentic commerce is the next evolution of online shopping. Instead of an AI simply recommending products, an AI agent actively completes the purchase on your behalf. That includes:
- Researching options
- Comparing prices and features
- Answering questions
- Applying discounts
- Completing checkout
In other words, the AI doesn’t just guide the shopper, it acts for them. This is the future both Google and OpenAI are racing toward. And Google just took a meaningful lead.
Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP): Why This Is a Big Deal
Google’s UCP is an open standard designed to support the entire shopping journey from discovery and evaluation to checkout and post-purchase support inside conversational experiences like Search AI Mode and the Gemini app.
Google put it plainly: “Consumers expect seamless transitions from brainstorming and research to final purchase.”
What UCP enables:
- Real-time inventory checks
- Dynamic pricing
- Instant checkout using stored payment and shipping info
- Transactions completed within the conversational context
Soon, eligible U.S. retailers will allow shoppers to check out directly from Google Search AI Mode using Google Pay, with PayPal coming next.
And Google isn’t doing it alone. Google is launching UCP with major retail and commerce players, including Shopify, Walmart, Target, Etsy, Wayfair and 20+ additional retailers and payment processors. This matters because scale wins agentic commerce. The more inventory, data, and transactions Google can power, the smarter and more indispensable its agents become.
The Tradeoff Brands Can’t Ignore
For shoppers, this is a win. They’re experiencing a faster checkout in fewer steps, with no more hunting for coupon codes. Simply put: less friction overall. For brands, it’s more complicated.
The upside:
- Higher conversion potential
- Fewer drop-offs at checkout
- Access to high-intent shoppers earlier in the decision process
The risk:
- Less traffic to your owned site
- Fewer traditional touchpoints
- More reliance on how your product data is interpreted by AI
In an agentic world, your product feed isn’t just for ads anymore. It’s the instruction manual the AI uses to decide whether (and how!) to sell your product.
Enter: Business Agent (Your Brand, as an AI Sales Associate)
Google also announced Business Agent, a new feature in Merchant Center that allows retailers to deploy branded AI agents directly in Search. Think of it as a virtual sales associate that:
- Speaks in your brand’s voice
- Answers product questions in real time
- Uses data from your website and Merchant Center
- Lives on the search results page
Soon, brands will be able to:
- Train the agent on their own data
- Surface related products and offers
- Enable direct purchases, including agentic checkout, inside the experience
This is a fundamental shift. Instead of shoppers browsing your site, they’re conversing with your brand’s agent before they ever visit you. And in some cases, they may never need to.
The (Even) Bigger Shift: Data Is the New Storefront
Here’s the hot take: In agentic commerce, your data is your storefront.
If your product feeds are incomplete, inconsistent, or unclear, the agent won’t recommend you. If your specs are messy, the AI won’t trust you. If your pricing or availability is unstable, you won’t get surfaced when it matters most.
Google has been explicit about what’s coming next:
- New conversational attributes beyond keywords
- Structured answers to common product questions
- Data about compatibility, accessories, substitutes, and use cases
All of this reinforces one reality: brands need to optimize for AI consumption, not just human browsing.
Ads Aren’t Going Away: They’re Getting Smarter
On top of all this, Google is piloting Direct Offers inside AI Mode: ads designed specifically for conversational shopping moments.
Here’s how it works:
- A shopper is close to buying but hesitates (usually on price)
- Google’s AI detects that hesitation
- An exclusive offer (like 20% off) appears at the exact moment of consideration
Critically, Google decides when to show the offer, not the retailer.
Retailers set up offers in their campaign settings, and Google’s AI acts as a “negotiator,” surfacing the deal only when it’s likely to close the sale. Direct Offers works alongside Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns, meaning this is an evolution, not a replacement of existing media strategy.
What’s coming next:
- Bundles
- Free shipping offers
- More flexible incentives
This is bidding on intent, not keywords, and it’s a preview of how paid media adapts to agentic commerce.
What This Means for Brands Right Now
This isn’t a “watch and wait” moment. If Google’s AI is becoming the interface, brands need to prepare for:
- Less control over the customer journey
- More dependence on clean, structured data
- Media strategies that close sales inside AI environments
- Agents that evaluate products before humans do
The brands that win won’t be the loudest. They’ll be the clearest.
The Bottom Line
Google isn’t just adding AI features, it’s redesigning commerce around them. Agentic checkout, branded business agents, and AI-triggered offers all point to the same future: shopping decisions will increasingly be made by machines on behalf of people.
That doesn’t make brand strategy less important. It makes it more precise.
In this new world, clarity beats cleverness. Data beats decoration. And brands that understand how to sell to agents, not just consumers, will have the advantage. If this feels like a lot, that’s because it is. But it’s also an opportunity for brands willing to adapt before the agent decides for them.