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Google CEO Sundar Pichai has launched the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard designed to enable artificial intelligence that revolutionises AI-driven shopping. This protocol enables AI agents to handle the entire shopping journey, from product discovery to payment, without human intervention.
Unveiled at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2026 conference, UCP was created to serve as a shared language for AI systems and merchant platforms.
UCP is a result of Google's partnership with major retailers like Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart. Additionally, companies in the payments, retail, and commerce technology sectors, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Adyen, and Zalando, have also supported it.
In a post on X, Pichai stated that AI agents would play a significant role in future shopping experiences. He also announced that UCP would soon enable native checkout on AI Mode and the Gemini app, allowing users to make purchases directly.
"AI agents will be a big part of how we shop in the not-so-distant future. To help lay the groundwork, we partnered with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart to create the Universal Commerce Protocol, a new open standard for agents and systems to talk to each other across every step of the shopping journey," Pichai wrote.
UCP promises to standardise how AI agents interact with merchants, systems, and payment services, allowing users to give commands like "find me a laptop under $1,000 and buy it" and have the agent execute the order in a single flow.
The company claims that UCP enables every compatible agent to communicate with a merchant through a single setup, instead of retailers creating distinct connections for each AI assistant or platform.
According to the tech giant, it also works with other agentic protocols like Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), Agent2Agent (A2A), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). The company stated that agents and businesses can select specific extensions of the protocol that meet their needs.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke announced in a post on X that Shopify, in partnership with Google, launched the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).
"It’s open by default, so platforms and agents can use UCP to start transacting with any merchant. Major retailers are already using it. Agents can handle everything from discovery to fulfillment, and support things like discounts, subscriptions, and loyalty programs. We’ve accounted for all types of commerce," Lutke said.
Unveiled at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2026 conference, UCP was created to serve as a shared language for AI systems and merchant platforms.
UCP is a result of Google's partnership with major retailers like Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart. Additionally, companies in the payments, retail, and commerce technology sectors, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Adyen, and Zalando, have also supported it.
In a post on X, Pichai stated that AI agents would play a significant role in future shopping experiences. He also announced that UCP would soon enable native checkout on AI Mode and the Gemini app, allowing users to make purchases directly.
"AI agents will be a big part of how we shop in the not-so-distant future. To help lay the groundwork, we partnered with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart to create the Universal Commerce Protocol, a new open standard for agents and systems to talk to each other across every step of the shopping journey," Pichai wrote.
AI
agents will be a big part of how we shop in the not-so-distant future.
To help lay the groundwork, we partnered with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart to create the Universal Commerce Protocol, a new open standard for agents and systems to talk to each other across… pic.twitter.com/8gDxDWjF9q
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) January 11, 2026
UCP promises to standardise how AI agents interact with merchants, systems, and payment services, allowing users to give commands like "find me a laptop under $1,000 and buy it" and have the agent execute the order in a single flow.
The company claims that UCP enables every compatible agent to communicate with a merchant through a single setup, instead of retailers creating distinct connections for each AI assistant or platform.
According to the tech giant, it also works with other agentic protocols like Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), Agent2Agent (A2A), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). The company stated that agents and businesses can select specific extensions of the protocol that meet their needs.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke announced in a post on X that Shopify, in partnership with Google, launched the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).
Shopify is building the foundation for agentic commerce.
Universal Commerce Protocol, which we co-developed with Google, is now live. UCP will make it faster for agents and retailers to integrate.
It’s open by default, so platforms and agents can use UCP to start transacting… pic.twitter.com/Gs0vzvfjra
— tobi lutke (@tobi) January 11, 2026
"It’s open by default, so platforms and agents can use UCP to start transacting with any merchant. Major retailers are already using it. Agents can handle everything from discovery to fulfillment, and support things like discounts, subscriptions, and loyalty programs. We’ve accounted for all types of commerce," Lutke said.
