Google announces the Universal Commerce Protocol

Google has announced UCP, the Universal Commerce Protocol, with retail and platform co-developers. The ambition is a shared language across the shopping journey. Checkout for eligible US retailers in AI Mode and Gemini is described as coming soon. Google’s announcement.

The technical starting point is a business describing the services it supports. Google’s accompanying walkthrough shows an agent discovering those capabilities through a standard profile before interacting with the business. Technical introduction.

The announcement creates two histories to follow: development of the protocol, and deployment of experiences that use it. A partner list can tell us who is participating. The later rollout evidence will tell us what a customer can actually do.