The future of retail involves artificial intelligence and the so-called “agent commerce”. With chatbots and AI tools climbing positions as a gateway to information on the Internet, alliances between technology companies and major commerce players are strengthening to encourage the connection of consumers with brands and their products. Last September OpenAI partnered with Etsy to launch the Instant Checkout functionality, and now Google is partnering with more than twenty companies to facilitate purchases through Gemini.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, announced this during the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference, held from January 11 to 13 in New York. In this scenario, the company has presented the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a protocol designed specifically for the era of commerce based on artificial intelligence.

This, as the company has explained, has been developed together with leaders in the retail sector, such as Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart, and is endorsed by more than 20 other companies. The protocol is designed to facilitate the entire purchasing process, from item discovery to payment, through AI agents, with global scale and taking into account the purchasing experience.

The protocol will materialize, mainly, in the possibility of making native payments in Google tools. Thus, as Pichai has announced, users will soon find a direct purchase button on platforms such as Search AI Mode or Gemini.

The protocol, according to Google, allows the creation of a common language for AI tools and brand services to communicate with each other. He illustrates this by explaining that if a consumer is looking for a suitcase, the protocol will allow the merchant to customize a price for new members or offer registration to the loyalty program. And for returning customers, merchants can offer special deals based on previous purchases or suggest useful add-ons. The purchase can be completed without leaving the conversation and with a few clicks through Google Pay, for now.

Walmart has delved into the explanation, through a statement in which it details its collaboration with Google. The company notes that Gemini will automatically include products from Walmart and Sam’s Club – its membership store – when relevant to the conversation. Additionally, if users link their accounts, Walmart will recommend complementary items based on their previous purchases, both online and in-store, and will combine their order with other items they have added to their carts.

“The Transition from Traditional Web or App Search to Agent-Led Commerce Represents the Next Big Evolution in Retail“commented John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart United States. “Partnering with Google to bring the Walmart experience directly to Gemini is another step toward creating seamless shopping experiences for customers and members that are more intuitive and personal than ever.”.

It should be noted that some of the companies that have now partnered with Google, such as Walmart or Shopify, have already maintained agreements with OpenAI since the end of last year to allow ChatGPT users to make purchases from the Propop chatbot.

For now, AI-assisted shopping features in Gemini will initially only be available to US users, but Google plans to expand them internationally in the coming months. In addition, at the moment buyers will only be able to pay with cards linked to their Google Pay accounts, but they will soon be able to use other methods, such as PayPal.