OpenAI launched Instant Checkout with one partner. Google waited, then showed up with an army.
Yesterday at the National Retail Federation conference, Google unveiled the Universal Commerce Protocol backed by Shopify, Stripe, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Adyen, Target, Walmart, Wayfair, Best Buy, Home Depot, and 20+ more companies.
This isn't about better technology. It's about who controls the infrastructure that makes AI commerce possible.
The Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) creates a shared standard for AI agents to handle product discovery, checkout, and post-purchase support. Instead of every AI agent building custom connections to every retailer, UCP provides one protocol that works everywhere. It's compatible with Agent2Agent (A2A), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). The full specification is available on GitHub.
Google's immediate implementation: native checkout in AI Mode and Gemini. Buy from eligible US retailers without leaving the AI conversation. Retailers keep customer relationships and transaction data.
Three products launched that directly impact how you'll sell in the next 12 months. Business Agent creates a branded AI assistant on your Google Search presence. Direct Offers lets you show exclusive discounts when shoppers demonstrate purchase intent. Expanded Merchant Center attributes prepare your product data for conversational discovery.
What you're about to get:
Complete breakdown of all three tools (Business Agent, Direct Offers, Merchant Center)
Your action timeline (what to do this week vs. next quarter)
Product data strategy that makes you discoverable in AI conversations
Why Amazon's absence from this coalition matters for your strategy
Google just changed how AI commerce works. Here's what to do about it:
