We’re only a few weeks into 2026 and Google is already asserting dominance. At NRF, they rolled out a wave of AI-powered shopping enhancements that signal where commerce is headed. As Dan Connor, our Retail Managing Partner, put it: “The storefront is shifting fast. Discovery, evaluation, and checkout are converging into a single moment inside AI surfaces like Gemini and ChatGPT. That changes the game. If your product data isn’t agent-readable, you’re invisible.”
Here’s what dropped, and more importantly, what it means for brands, retailers, and the people actually buying stuff.
The Announcements
Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open standard Google developed with major retailers including Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart. It creates a shared language for AI agents to communicate across the entire shopping journey, from discovery and pricing to checkout and post-purchase support.
Native Checkout in AI Surfaces will let shoppers complete purchases directly inside AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app, no redirect required. Think of it as the next evolution of shoppable product ads, now embedded in conversational AI.
Business Agent is an AI chat feature connecting shoppers with eligible U.S. retailers right in Search. It functions like a virtual sales associate, answering product questions in real time.
Direct Offers Pilot enables retailers to serve personalized deals (special discounts, limited promotions) to high-intent shoppers directly within AI Mode results.
Together, these moves reduce friction and keep transactions firmly within Google’s ecosystem.
What They Actually Mean
Google’s shopping ecosystem has always been complex because it serves so many audiences: brands, retailers, payment processors, manufacturers, and somewhere in there, the actual shopper. The key to understanding these announcements is knowing who each one targets.
UCP is for retailers and ecommerce platforms. It creates a consistent data foundation so AI chatbots and agents can reliably handle shopping-related prompts. For consumers, this means better answers when they ask an LLM about pricing, release dates, or post-purchase support.
Native Checkout is for DTC brands and their advertising teams. This is shoppable PLAs coming to AI Mode and Gemini. The eternal question remains: will Google pass enough purchaser data to make brands willing to deprioritize their own sites? For consumers, seamless checkout has become table stakes, and this gives Google a way to differentiate its AI experience from competitors.
Business Agent is for every brand wondering how to break into conversational commerce. We’ve seen chatbot solutions come and go over the past five years, but this one could be a leap forward. Brands can train it on their own data, extract insights, and amplify their voice across AI search. For consumers, direct brand interactions mean better answers, delivered in the same conversational format they’re already using with Gemini or ChatGPT.
Direct Offers Pilot is for advertisers who’ve been asking how to place ads in AI Mode. As usual, Google is leading with ecommerce. Expect lead gen versions to follow this summer. For consumers, discounts are a compelling reason to act, and this will drive more shopping behavior across LLMs.
