Google CEO Sundar Pichai has introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard designed to power end-to-end AI-driven shopping experiences.

Unveiled at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2026 conference, UCP allows AI agents to manage the entire shopping process. From finding products to completing payments, this all occurs without human involvement. It is designed to serve as a common language among AI systems, merchants, and payment platforms.

The protocol has been developed in partnership with major retailers such as Walmart, Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, and Target. Additionally, payments and commerce firms including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Adyen, and Zalando are partners.

Pichai said AI agents will play a key role in how people shop in the near future. He added that UCP will soon enable native checkout within Google’s AI Mode and the Gemini app. This allows users to complete purchases directly through AI.

According to Google, the UCP standardises how AI agents interact with merchants and payment systems. It enables users to give simple commands, such as buying a product within a set budget. The AI handles the entire transaction in a single flow.

The company said merchants will need just one UCP setup to work with multiple AI agents. They won’t need to build separate integrations for each platform. UCP also works alongside other agent-based protocols, such as the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), Agent2Agent (A2A), and the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke said UCP is open by default, allowing platforms and AI agents to transact with any merchant. He added that the protocol supports features such as discounts, subscriptions, and loyalty programmes. It covers a wide range of commerce use cases.

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