At the 2026 National Retail Federation (NRF) conference, Google officially launched the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard protocol designed for the "agentic commerce" era. UCP aims to establish a unified "common language" and process between AI agents and retail systems, enabling a seamless end-to-end experience from product discovery to order placement, payment, order processing, and after-sales support, with users never leaving the AI conversation interface.

Core Value of UCP: Let AI Truly "Shop"  

UCP allows AI agents to understand and execute complete shopping processes across platforms and brands. Users simply need to naturally express their needs in Google Search's AI Mode or Gemini chat, such as "Find a black suitcase I viewed earlier and deliver it to my address as before," and the AI can immediately match products, display personalized prices (such as member-exclusive discounts and recommended accessories), complete payments (through Google Pay, with PayPal support coming soon), and then the merchant continues with after-sales service.  

The most critical design principle is that AI only acts as an "operator," and the actual order recipient (Merchant of Record) is always the merchant. Customer relationships, data ownership, and after-sales service fully belong to the merchant, avoiding excessive platform involvement in user privacy and relationships.

Strong Ecosystem Partner Lineup, Open Collaboration for the Future  

UCP was jointly developed by Google with retail giants such as Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart, and has received endorsements from over 20 global partners, including Adyen, American Express, Best Buy, Flipkart, Macy’s, Mastercard, Stripe, The Home Depot, Visa, and Zalando, which are payment and retail leaders.  

The protocol is completely open, neutral, and vendor-agnostic, not limited to the Google ecosystem. Any AI platform, agent, or retailer can adopt it. It also is compatible with existing industry standards such as Agent2Agent (A2A), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and Model Context Protocol (MCP), laying a solid foundation for global AI commerce infrastructure.

First Experiences Coming Soon  

- Qualified retail products in the US will support native checkout in Google Search AI Mode and the Gemini app, allowing users to complete purchases directly using saved payment and delivery information in Google Wallet.  

- Merchants can showcase exclusive offers, recommend accessories, and apply loyalty points at key moments.  

- In the coming months, it will expand to global markets and gradually add more features, such as related product discovery and complex subscription options.

Industry Significance: Opening a New Era of "Frictionless" AI Shopping  

The launch of UCP marks a qualitative leap for AI from "recommending products" to "directly completing transactions." It significantly reduces cart abandonment rates, improves conversion efficiency, and allows small and medium-sized merchants to access AI traffic channels through standardized interfaces, rather than being monopolized by closed platforms.  

AIbase Perspective: Today, as AI agents become increasingly powerful, UCP is not just a technical protocol but a "TCP/IP moment" for the e-commerce ecosystem. It promotes the development of an open and interoperable AI commerce infrastructure, preventing monopolies by big companies, allowing merchants to retain core control and users to enjoy maximum convenience. In the future, whoever masters the best agent experience and open protocols will define the way people shop in the next decade.