Google has announced the launch of Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard for agentic commerce designed to work across the shopping journey.

The move will soon enable shoppers to check out from eligible US retailers whilst researching on Google.

The standard, which will cover discovery, buying, and post-purchase support, will support the new checkout feature on eligible Google product listings in AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app.

The tech giant said that it will work with retailers to expand globally over the coming months, with plans to roll out new capabilities, such as discovering related products, applying loyalty rewards, and powering custom shopping experiences on Google.

Google describes the new standard as a "common language" for agents and systems to work together across consumer surfaces, businesses, and payment providers so that instead of requiring unique connections for every individual agent all agents can interact easily.

UCP was co-developed with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart, and has been endorsed by Adyen, American Express, Best Buy, Flipkart, Macy’s Inc., Mastercard, Stripe, The Home Depot, Visa and Zalando.

Google says that the feature has been built with "security at its core", with shoppers able to buy products with Google Pay using payment methods and shipping info already saved in Google Wallet. Users will also soon be able to make a purchase through PayPal.

UCP is built to work across verticals and is compatible with existing industry protocols like Agent2Agent (A2A), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Google is also launching Business Agent, a new way for shoppers to chat with brands on Search.

Business Agent is a virtual sales associate that can answer product questions in a "brand’s voice."

The agent is now live with a number of retailers, including Lowe’s, Michael’s, Poshmark, and Reebok, as well as others.

Eligible US retailers can choose to activate and customise the branded agent in Merchant Center.

Google said that in the coming months, retailers will be able to train the agent based on their data, access new customer insights, provide offers for related products and enable direct purchases — including agentic checkout — within the experience.

Mastercard is partnering with Google on the UCP, with the company saying that the standard aligns with its agentic commerce principles of intent, tokenisation, and agent identification critical for protecting merchants, empowering issuers, and driving innovation.

The payments giant explained that UCP and Agent Pay, its agentic payments technology, will collaborate over time to help agentic commerce "evolve in a high trust environment" for merchants and issuers.

“Open, interoperable protocols are the spark for agentic commerce," said Pablo Fourez, chief digital officer at Mastercard. "As this ecosystem evolves, Mastercard is leaning in with the industry to advance protocols that embed trust, security, and responsibility from day one.

"By working with Google and industry partners to extend the foundational principles of Mastercard Agent Pay into these protocols, Mastercard is helping the industry to deliver on the promise of AI-powered commerce for consumers, merchants, and issuers.”

---