Google is expanding the functionality of its open-source agentic commerce standard and giving retailers new artificial intelligence capabilities.
The tech giant is updating the Universal Commerce Protocol in its Merchant Center. UCP, an open standard for agentic AI-based commerce intended to cover the entire shopping journey from discovery and buying to post-purchase support, has already been enabling direct checkout for brands and retailers using it.
Now, retailers who use the Google Merchant Center for UCP-enabled checkout can also enable capabilities like cart transfer to a retailer site and enhanced checkout flow testing, with analytics and more coming soon. The new capabilities are gradually rolling out in the U.S., with Australia and Canada to follow early in 2027.
Tapestry Inc., parent company of fashion brands such as Kate Spade and Coach, has been able to integrate UCP-based checkout on Google and make select products from those brands purchasable directly from Google Search, including AI Mode and the Gemini agentic AI app, in time for the holiday shopping season.
[READ MORE: Tapestry enables direct Google AI purchase of Coach, Kate Spade items]
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