As OpenAI pulls back on ChatGPT Instant Checkout, Google is introducing new capabilities for its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), the company’s open standard for agentic commerce that is being deployed across Google products. UCP now enables AI agents to create multi-item carts for customers, update product details in real time by integrating with a retailers’ catalog, and supports identity linking so that shoppers using agentic AI can access loyalty and member benefits.
Google also said in its announcement that it is working on a simplified UCP onboarding process that will roll out in the next few months, designed to make it easier for retailers of all sizes to access these agentic capabilities. Additionally, partners including Commerce (formerly BigCommerce), Salesforce and Stripe are all preparing to launch UCP on their platforms in the near future, giving their merchant customers plug-and-play access to UCP capabilities.
New capabilities in UCP include:
- Multi-item cart creation: UCP’s new Cart option will let agents save or add multiple items to a shopping cart simultaneously from a single store, just like human shoppers often do;
- Real-time product updates: Merchants that have adopted UCP can now access the Catalog capability, which lets agents retrieve select real-time product details such as variants, inventory levels and pricing from a retailer’s catalog when necessary; and
- Integration with loyalty and member programs: Building on existing standards, UCP now supports Identity Linking, which allows shoppers on UCP-integrated platforms to receive the same loyalty or member benefits they would on a retailer’s site — like pricing or free shipping — when they’re logged in.
“Agentic commerce is no longer just a concept, it’s reality,” said Vidhya Srinivasan, VP and General Manager of Ads and Commerce at Google in a blog post earlier this year. “Our goal is twofold: One, remove the grunt work of shopping so consumers can focus on the fun parts. Two, work hand-in-hand with the industry on the building blocks needed to make agentic commerce seamless and secure. UCP’s potential extends far beyond retail. It’s helping to lay the foundation for a future where all commercial experiences can be seamless and agentic.”
OpenAI Pivots After Disappointing Results in ChatGPT Instant Checkout
These enhancements to Google’s agentic shopping capabilities come as OpenAI undergoes a major about-face in its own in-platform shopping strategy. Earlier this month, The Information reported that OpenAI was scaling back its plans to introduce checkout directly inside ChatGPT and instead focusing on having checkout take place inside of specific apps that plug into ChatGPT.
The move was apparently prompted by the fact that, following the September 2025 debut of ChatGPT Instant Checkout, OpenAI realized that while users were researching products in the platform in droves, they weren’t completing their purchases there. This jibes with a number of new studies: A survey from Radial of 1,000 U.S. consumers found that nearly two-thirds are uncomfortable sharing payment information with AI agents; and a report from Criteo found that AI was driving comparison but not checkout, with 96% of shoppers who regularly use AI shopping assistants also engaging with other channels, and 47% primarily using AI to compare products rather than complete purchases.
Two of OpenAI’s biggest early partners in the endeavor — Walmart and Shopify — have been fairly vocal about the shift and the reasons for it. Walmart’s Daniel Danker, the company’s EVP of AI Acceleration, Product and Design, shared with Wired that ChatGPT’s integrated checkout performed three times worse than having users click out to Walmart’s website. He also added that ChatGPT pivoting away from Instant Checkout just five months after launching it, instead of wasting years trying to fix it, is a good thing.
And earlier this month, Shopify announced in an email to its merchants that “ChatGPT in agentic storefronts” is coming later this month, Modern Retail reported. This updated approach will see Shopify merchants’ products still appear inside ChatGPT conversations, but buyers will typically complete purchases on the merchant’s own online storefront.
Don’t Count Out Amazon
Meanwhile, Amazon is pushing full force into the agentic shopping mix, with the expansion of its Shop Direct program, which surfaces products not sold on Amazon within Amazon searches and will complete the purchase on the merchant’s website for them if shoppers direct it to.
“AI-driven journeys aren’t being built [just] by new players such as Anthropic and OpenAI, but also by retailers like Amazon,” said Chris Jones, Managing Director at PSE Consulting in comments shared with Retail TouchPoints. “Many merchants have approached initiatives like UCP as a gateway to innovation, particularly in opening up access to AI ecosystems led by players such as OpenAI and Anthropic. However, there’s the potential for a strategic blind spot to emerge. These new rails don’t just enable collaboration with emerging standalone AI partners — they also create an opportunity for competitors to own the purchasing journey. Amazon’s move highlights how easily competitive third parties can sit between the merchant and the customer, including at the point of transaction.”
