Gemini drives agentic commerce: curiosity becomes checkout

Google Shopping strategies for more revenue, in your inbox

Every other week: what is changing in Google Shopping, what we see in our customers' accounts, and what to do about it.

The way consumers shop online is changing. Plain keyword search is being supplemented by AI-driven systems. These don't just suggest products, they accompany the buying process from the first spark of interest through to the purchase.

csspartner.io helps your business stay active in this changing environment. Google has unveiled new AI-based developments for retail. Here's what's changing, what it means for your brand, and how to adapt your product feed to stay relevant.

1. The expansion of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)

The Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open standard bridge between Google's AI surfaces and your online shop — it makes your business agentic-ready. Developed with industry leaders and backed by 20+ partners, UCP ensures your products get found in next-generation consumer experiences.

Global expansion of native checkout: the UCP-based native checkout experience is coming to Canada and Australia in the coming months, and to the United Kingdom later this year. Consumers buy directly through AI Mode and Gemini — completely frictionlessly.

Launch of the Universal Cart: this summer, the Universal Cart launches in the US in Search and Gemini (YouTube and Gmail to follow). It proactively tracks deals, price changes and stock levels — and, using advanced AI reasoning, flags product incompatibilities before the user buys.

2. Global: 6 new conversational feed attributes

To make conversational commerce work on surfaces like AI Mode, Google has rolled out six new feed attributes globally in Merchant Center. They supplement your existing feed and give the AI the context it needs to recommend your products in a natural conversation.

Add these new attributes to your feed starting today: Popularity Rank, Q&A, Variant Option, Document Link, Related Product and Item Group Title.

3. Your new AI co-pilot: Merchant Advisor

Managing complex feed data is about to get a lot easier. Google is planning the global release of Merchant Advisor for late 2026 — a conversational chat experience built right into Merchant Center.

Merchant Advisor lets you talk to your data. You can debug account health issues, get instant answers to technical feed questions, and receive tailored optimisation tips for your performance.

Future-proof: the 4 pillars of feed health

In agentic commerce, your product feed is your most important lever. High-quality data is the foundation for your products being found across Google's AI ecosystem — both organically and in performance campaigns. Build on these four pillars: If you run your Shopping ads through a Google CSS partner, you pay 20% less for the same click.

Inform with rich titles and descriptions

Help the AI map your products precisely to how users search and speak: titles with 30+ characters, descriptions with 500+ characters, and every relevant product with unique identifiers such as GTINs.

Convince with multiple image angles

Consumers shop more visually than ever. 3+ additional images per product, lifestyle shots in use, high resolution — ideally 1500×1500 px.

Show shopping convenience

Create upfront transparency so buyers can decide with confidence: state free shipping clearly, communicate delivery times and make the returns policy visible.

Show the differentiators that matter

Stand out at exactly the moment a consumer chooses between you and the competition: accurate sale prices and product ratings, finely categorised inventory and compelling product highlights.