According to Google general manager for ads and commerce Vidhya Srinivasan, the pilot\u2019s agentic AI ecosystem, known as the \u201cuniversal commerce protocol\u201d, was developed in partnership with retailers and e-commerce platforms including Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart and is \u201cendorsed\u201d by payment platforms such as Amex and Mastercard.<\/p>\n
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Writing in a Google blog post, she said: \u201cWith direct offers, retailers set up relevant offers they want to feature in their campaign settings, and Google will use AI to determine when an offer is relevant to display.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are initially focusing on discounts for the pilot and will expand to support the creation of offers with other attributes that help shoppers prioritise value over price alone, such as bundles and free shipping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advertisers such as pet brand Petco, make-up company Elf Cosmetics and luggage manufacturer Samsonite have already signed up to the pilot, Srinivasan said.<\/p>\n
Enjoying Mumbrella? Sign up for our free daily newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking to Mumbrella, TBWA\\ Australia chief AI and innovation officer Lucio Ribeiro said the introduction represents not \u201cjust an incremental shift in where transactions happen, it\u2019s a new AI moment of truth where discovery and purchase start to collapse into the same interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlatforms like OpenAI\u2019s Instant Checkout, Microsoft Copilot Checkout and Google\u2019s personalised shopping ads all blur the line between search, recommendation and conversion, forcing brands to think beyond traditional keyword auctions to how they appear and perform in conversational, intent-rich AI contexts,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n TBWA\u2019s Lucio Ribeiro: \u201cDiscovery and purchase start to collapse into the same interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor advertisers, this means treating AI-enabled search and checkout placements less like a variant of traditional search and retail media and more like a new, dynamic channel of intent. The discounts and incentives Google is offering will probably encourage brands to test faster.\u201d<\/p>\n Ribeiro added that the change also reflects a wider evolution in customer experience (CX).<\/p>\n \u201cThe real shift is that intent is no longer being handed back to a list of links or a marketplace shelf,\u201d he said. \u201cDiscovery followed by intention is captured inside the AI experience itself. That\u2019s the [AI] moment where a question, a recommendation and a decision collapse into one interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, WPP Media managing director of commerce Marc Lomas said the rise of AI checkouts \u201csignals the end of the \u2018browse and hope\u2019 era of e-commerce.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are witnessing the birth of the delegator economy, where consumers are shifting from active shoppers to delegators who entrust AI agents to find, compare, and now purchase products on their behalf,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cFor advertisers, this collapses the traditional funnel; discovery and transaction are now happening in the same conversational moment. This represents a seismic shift for advertisers as we move from the bedrock of B2C to agent-to-consumer (A2C) and\u00a0 agent-to-agent (A2A), a transition that will radically alter power dynamics for those who navigate it effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n Google launched AI Mode in Australia in October 2025,<\/a> a full-screen platform that lets users complete tasks like shopping, checkout, and chatting with brands.<\/p>\n AI Mode builds on AI Overviews (introduced in Australia a year ago), a more limited, top-of-page product that provides AI-generated summaries gleaned from multiple sources and delivered in a conversational tone, with bullet points and links.<\/p>\n While apparently good for retailers looking to eliminate steps in the customer\u2019s path to purchase, the tools have sparked fears among publishers and media owners that informational clicks will disappear, putting their traffic at risk.<\/a><\/p>\n Google\u2019s rollout of AI Mode and its new checkout feature follows similar moves by OpenAI and Microsoft.<\/p>\n OpenAI introduced its \u201cinstant checkout\u201d for ChatGPT in September<\/a>, allowing users to make purchases through the large language model\u2019s platform while taking a cut of sales made on the platform.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mumbrella.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Lucio-Ribeiro-Square-e1747104944561.jpg?w=568&h=320&crop=1\")
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