MUMBAI: Shopping is getting a little more chatty, and Google wants those conversations to end with a checkout rather than just another search. The company has expanded its agentic commerce offering ahead of the festive season, adding new tools for retailers across product discovery, conversational shopping and checkout.
Google has made AI performance insights in Merchant Center generally available in India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US. The feature allows businesses to see how their products and brands are being discovered through conversational experiences, including AI Mode and AI Overviews, while comparing their share of voice with competing brands.
The expansion comes as product discovery increasingly moves beyond the traditional search box. Consumers can now ask questions, compare products and seek recommendations through AI-led experiences, turning the path from search to purchase into a more conversational journey.
Google is also taking that conversation to YouTube. After introducing Business Agent in Search earlier this year, the company is inviting eligible retailers in the US to participate in a beta for Business Agent within YouTube ads.
The feature allows viewers to research products, ask detailed questions and receive tailored guidance without leaving YouTube. It is designed around the way consumers increasingly use the video platform for product research and discovery, bringing assistance closer to the moment when shopping intent develops.
The checkout journey is also getting an agentic makeover through Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). Merchants using the UCP integration hub in Merchant Center can now enable features such as cart transfer to a merchant website and enhanced checkout flow testing. Google also plans to add analytics capabilities.
The expanded UCP features are gradually rolling out in the US, with Australia and Canada expected to follow early next year.
Tapestry, the parent company of Coach and Kate Spade, is among the retailers to have integrated UCP-powered checkout on Google. Its brands can sell products across Search, including AI Mode, as well as through the Gemini app.
Google is also putting greater emphasis on the product information retailers feed into its ecosystem ahead of the festive rush. According to the company, merchants following core Merchant Center feed best practices see an average 5 per cent increase in conversions in the following month.
The company recommends attributes such as video links to support visual and shoppable ad formats, while conversational attributes can provide additional product context for AI-led recommendations.
During testing with lululemon, Google said conversational attributes submitted by the brand were incorporated 50 per cent of the time in relevant product recommendations in AI Mode. Retailers can also connect loyalty data to Merchant Center so that member benefits and pricing can appear in Google results.
Google cited Minted’s Minted More programme as an example, where members searching for holiday cards can receive results reflecting their member pricing.
The latest additions extend Google’s commerce strategy from simply helping shoppers find products to assisting them through research, recommendations, personalised interactions and, increasingly, the final transaction.
With the festive shopping season approaching, the battle is therefore moving beyond who gets seen in search. Retailers also need their product information to be understood by AI, their brands to remain visible during conversational discovery and the journey from “What should I buy?” to “Take my money” to become considerably shorter.