Shopify, Walmart Endorse Google’s New Open Commerce Protocol

The unit AI protocol standards warfare is heating up.

Google has unveiled a caller unfastened standard, nan Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), nether nan Apache 2 unfastened root license.

Google’s extremity is for UCP to toggle shape AI-driven merchandise find into frictionless, instant purchases crossed its Search and Gemini package stack. Framed arsenic halfway plumbing for “agentic commerce,” UCP is designed to alteration AI agents, unit platforms and costs providers to transact without nan custom, one-off integrations that presently part online shopping.

At nan National Retail Federation (NRF) conference successful Manhattan, Google introduced UCP arsenic an open, extensible protocol that establishes a communal connection for agents and commerce systems crossed nan full shopping journey, from find to post‑purchase support.

In its first deployment, Google said UCP will soon powerfulness a autochthonal checkout travel for eligible merchandise listings successful AI mode successful Search and successful nan Gemini app, initially for U.S.-based retailers.

The New Frictionless Shopping Flow With UCP

This is acold from being conscionable a Google play. Google says UCP has been co-developed and endorsed by much than 20 companies crossed unit and payments, including Shopify, which played a large domiciled successful processing nan protocol, on pinch Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart, Visa and others.

The caller travel lets users move from a conversational query (e.g., asking Gemini to find a lightweight carry-on suitcase) consecutive to acquisition wrong nan aforesaid interface, utilizing stored costs and shipping specifications via Google Pay, pinch PayPal support “coming soon.”

Google positions this arsenic a measurement to trim cart abandonment while keeping retailers successful power arsenic nan merchant of record, including ownership of customer information and relationships.

Walmart, for one, is each in. In a statement, John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart, said, “The modulation from accepted web aliases app hunt to agent-led commerce represents nan next awesome improvement successful retail. We aren’t conscionable watching nan shift, we are driving it.”

Shopify, which has published its ain method relationship of nan protocol, describes UCP arsenic enabling immoderate AI supplier to transact pinch immoderate merchant connected its platform. It does this by discovering and invoking merchant‑defined capabilities alternatively of relying connected tightly coupled integrations.

UCP arsenic a Modular Standard for Merchant Capabilities

So, overmuch for nan business side, technically UCP is presented arsenic a modular, extensible modular that merchants tin usage to state nan capabilities they support (such arsenic checkout, returns aliases loyalty) and lets agents dynamically observe and discuss those capabilities. Rather than wiring bespoke APIs for each supplier aliases platform, UCP defines really agents, apps, businesses and costs providers authenticate, speech capabilities and execute transactions consistently.

UCP does this by sitting supra nan Linux Foundation‘s Agent2Agent (A2A) and Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) successful nan stack; it standardizes nan commerce workflow itself. At nan aforesaid time, A2A handles agent-to-agent messaging, while MCP focuses connected really models entree devices and data.

Thus, UCP uses A2A and MCP alternatively than replacing them, providing agents pinch a accordant measurement to execute cart, checkout and post-purchase flows crossed surfaces. In short, UCP tin dainty A2A arsenic a carrier and coordination furniture betwixt agents, and MCP arsenic nan system agents usage to propulsion nan commerce information they request to thrust UCP workflows.

UCP’s Technical Architecture and Web Standards

Under nan hood, UCP implementations trust connected acquainted web standards specified arsenic OAuth 2.0 for account‑linked checkout, Representational State Transfer (REST) endpoints for convention creation and completion and tokenized payments to unafraid paper data. If you’ve worked connected unit package this decade, you cognize nan drill. UCP e-commerce workflows tin beryllium implemented complete REST, MCP aliases A2A.

Endorsements from ample online and big‑box retailers supply Google pinch early distribution for nan standard. But nan institution is besides courting a agelong tail of developers. It is doing truthful done an unfastened root governance exemplary and an unfastened specification. Developers are encouraged to research pinch capabilities specified arsenic checkout, embedded civilization flows and post‑purchase updates, and to participate done UCP GitHub discussions and propulsion requests.

In nan short term, for retailers to usage Google’s frontend, merchants must person an progressive Google Merchant Center relationship and an eligible merchandise provender earlier participating successful UCP-powered checkout. Once approved, merchants are asked to instrumentality a mini group of halfway REST endpoints to create, update and complete checkout sessions, pinch optional embedded checkout for much analyzable aliases highly customized personification experiences.

Retailers tin take betwixt impermanent checkout, which requires nary further personality verification, and account‑linked checkout, which uses OAuth 2.0 to sync profiles and bid history betwixt their systems and participating agents. Order position changes are pushed backmost to agents via webhooks, enabling post‑purchase support scenarios specified arsenic tracking, returns and subscription guidance to travel done nan aforesaid protocol.

UCP vs. Agent Payments Protocol

Google besides has different e-commerce AI protocol: nan Agent Payments Protocol (AP2). The quality is that UCP is nan afloat commerce workflow layer, while AP2 is nan costs authorization furniture that UCP tin plug into. UCP orchestrates nan full shopping journey, while AP2 focuses narrowly connected really agents initiate, beryllium and settee payments.

The UCP motorboat comes arsenic Google pushes further into AI-led conversational commerce, bundling nan protocol pinch caller devices specified arsenic “Business Agent,” which lets brands embed their ain sound and policies into agentic shopping experiences connected Google platforms. Google Cloud has besides framed nan move arsenic portion of a broader “agentic commerce” strategy. Google is betting that standardized, interoperable protocols will beryllium basal arsenic retailers deploy their ain agents alongside user AIs from different vendors.

The Competitive Landscape for AI Commerce Protocols

Of course, Google isn’t nan only institution making that bet. Its competitors see OpenAI and Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) pinch ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout. Amazon, of course, is simply a de facto competitor done its tightly coupled, Amazon‑only, closed-system agentic shopping and payments infrastructure.

Which 1 will win? It’s excessively early to say. Still, nan operation of Google Ads (which captures astir 39%-40% of each integer advertisement spend), important online retailer partnerships and unfastened root is potent. For nan first clip successful ages, Amazon, nan 800-pound gorilla of retail, whitethorn beryllium facing a existent challenger successful nan Google UCP alliance.

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