Google brings checkout to AI mode as it races rivals in agentic commerce

The news: Users will soon be able to shop directly within Google’s AI mode and on Gemini, CEO Sundar Pichai said at NRF 2026, as the company steps up its agentic commerce efforts amid rising competition from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity.

• The capability will allow purchases from eligible retailers using Google Pay—and, eventually, PayPal—without leaving Google’s chat interface.
• The checkout feature is powered by Google’s new agentic framework, the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which spans the shopping journey from discovery to checkout to the post-purchase experience. It was developed with Shopify, Etsy, Walmart, Target, and other retailers, and is endorsed by over 20 companies including American Express, Macy’s, and Visa.
• Walmart, Target, and Shopify are the first companies to enable selling through Google’s new AI mode, positioning themselves as early adopters of agentic commerce.

Google also announced two additional AI features:

• Direct Offers, an ad pilot that allows advertisers to deliver special promotions, such as a 20% discount, within AI mode to encourage a purchase. The tool analyzes shopper intent and context to determine when to display the deal.
• Business Agent, a customer service agent that can answer product questions in a brand’s voice. These agents will also eventually provide performance insights and facilitate agentic checkout.

The big picture: Like its competitors, Google is pitching agentic commerce as a marked improvement to the current ecommerce experience, compressing the path between discovery and purchase while making it easier for consumers to find products that best fit their needs.

For now, however, the agentic shopping experience does not quite live up to the promise.

• Amazon’s “Buy for Me” agent, which purchases items from third-party sites on shoppers’ behalf, frustrated both buyers and sellers during the holiday season due to AI-generated listings that didn’t match merchants’ actual inventory, per Bloomberg.
• Challenges with data standardization have stymied OpenAI’s ability to implement in-app checkout for millions of merchants, according to The Information. Maintaining real-time accuracy on inventory availability and pricing, which often involves information spread across teams and systems, is a hurdle but absolutely vital to ChatGPT establishing itself as a reliable shopping partner.

Shoppers might be comfortable receiving recommendations from platforms like Gemini and ChatGPT, but trusting them to complete purchases on their behalf remains a significant barrier. That was evident during the holiday season: AI and agents influenced 20% of global retail sales, according to Salesforce, but were used far more often in a customer service capacity than to assist shopping.

The implications for retailers: While competitors like OpenAI struggle with execution, Google is leveraging its search dominance and tech muscle to present itself as a plug-and-play solution for brands seeking a quick start to agentic commerce. With 63.3 million consumers expected to use AI platforms and assistants to shop this year, per our forecast, this could give Google an early edge in agentic shopping.

Still, brands should not be so quick to put their eggs in one platform. ChatGPT’s popularity among younger consumers, along with growing use of other platforms like Perplexity for commerce activity, means that companies will need to have a multi-platform presence to ensure maximum visibility.