As AI agents become more synonymous with product discovery, Google is selling itself as a critical partner for brands to show up in recommendations.
In January, Google announced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) as a global shopping protocol that can work with AI agents and powers native checkout within Google’s properties.
Google is increasingly interweaving commerce features into its services—to the point where consumers may not need to visit retailers’ individual websites. However, retailers are responsible for core ecommerce functions like fulfilling orders. This month, Google officially launched Universal Cart in the U.S. on the Gemini app and in Google Search.
