--- title: "Agentic commerce: how to get chosen when AI does the shopping" url: https://marketingsignals.com/insights/agentic-commerce-ai-shopping type: Article date: 2026-11-02 author: "Gareth Hoyle" --- # Agentic commerce: how to get chosen when AI does the shopping What agentic commerce means for UK retailers: what is live, what is only announced, what AI shopping assistants need from you, and a readiness checklist. ## Key takeaways - Agentic commerce means AI assistants that research, compare and increasingly buy on a shopper's behalf, while the retailer stays the merchant of record. - In the UK today, AI does a lot of the product research and very little of the buying: checkout inside Google's AI surfaces is US only, with the UK promised later. - OpenAI launched Instant Checkout in ChatGPT in September 2025, then in March 2026 refocused on product discovery and let merchants use their own checkout. - Assistants choose from what they can read and verify: complete feeds, one consistent price and stock level, delivery and returns as data, useful pages, reviews and trusted mentions. - The work that gets you recommended at the research stage is the same work that will get you bought from when agent checkout reaches your market. Agentic commerce is the point where an AI assistant stops just answering questions about products and starts doing the shopping: researching, comparing and, in some markets, completing the purchase on the shopper's behalf. Every e-commerce board has now heard the phrase. Far fewer have a clear view of what is actually live. That gap matters. Announcements run months ahead of launches, most launches start in the US, and at least one headline checkout feature has already been scaled back. Plan from the press releases and you will spend money on integrations your customers cannot use yet. This article sets out what is live today and what is only announced, with dates, what an AI shopping assistant needs from a retailer before it will recommend you, and a readiness checklist you can work through this quarter. The short version: in the UK, AI does a lot of the research and very little of the buying. The work that gets you chosen at the research stage is the same work that will get you bought from later. ## What agentic commerce means in practice It helps to split it into three jobs, because the platforms are at different stages on each. - Discover: the assistant answers a shopping question with products, prices, reviews and links. This is live and widely used. - Compare: it builds a shortlist and puts options side by side on price, features, delivery and reviews. Also live. - Act: it adds to a basket, watches the price and buys, within limits the shopper sets. This is live for some retailers in the US, and announced but not live in the UK. In every system we have looked at, the retailer stays the merchant of record. OpenAI says its protocol keeps merchants "in control of the customer relationship", and Google says retailers "remain the seller of record". You keep the order, the customer data and the returns. What changes is who decides which retailer gets the order. ## What is live today, and what is only announced This is the position in early November 2026, taken from the platforms' own announcements. It changes often, so date any internal paper that relies on it. ChatGPT. On 29 September 2025 OpenAI [launched Instant Checkout](https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/) for US users buying from Etsy sellers, built on the Agentic Commerce Protocol it co-developed with Stripe. On 24 March 2026 it [changed direction](https://openai.com/index/powering-product-discovery-in-chatgpt/): it rolled out visual product browsing, side-by-side comparison and image search to Free, Go, Plus and Pro users, said the first version of Instant Checkout "did not offer the level of flexibility" it wanted, and let merchants use their own checkout while it concentrates on discovery. Shopify merchants are included through Shopify Catalog, and other retailers can apply to send product feeds. OpenAI's help centre says product results are selected independently and are not ads. Google. On 13 November 2025 Google [began rolling out agentic checkout](https://blog.google/products/shopping/agentic-checkout-holiday-ai-shopping/) in the US: a shopper tracks a product with a size, colour and maximum price, and when the price drops Google offers to buy it on the merchant's site with Google Pay, after asking permission. On 11 January 2026 it [announced the Universal Commerce Protocol](https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/agentic-commerce-ai-tools-protocol-retailers-platforms/) (UCP), an open standard co-developed with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart, to power checkout in AI Mode and the Gemini app for eligible US retailers. On 15 October 2026 Universal Cart, a single basket across retailers in Search and the Gemini app, began rolling out in the US. Google's [May 2026 update for retailers](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/shopping-updates-google-marketing-live/) is the one UK teams should read closely. It says UCP-powered checkout "will roll out across Canada and Australia in the coming months, and later to the U.K." The same post says retailers globally can now use conversational attributes to enrich product descriptions, which you can act on today. At its I/O conference the day before, Google said agents that buy within limits the shopper sets would come to its products "in the coming months", starting with Gemini Spark. Perplexity. On 25 November 2025 PayPal and Perplexity launched Instant Buy for US users, with the retailer as merchant of record. For a UK retailer, that adds up to this: - Live in the UK: AI shopping research. Google's AI Mode began rolling out in the UK on 28 July 2025, and ChatGPT shows product results and comparisons to UK users. The purchase happens on your site. - Live in the US only: checkout inside Google's AI surfaces, Universal Cart and Perplexity's Instant Buy. - Announced, not live: UCP checkout in the UK, which Google says will come later with no date, and agents that complete purchases on their own within a shopper's limits. ## Why it matters to the business When an assistant builds a shortlist of four products, being fifth is not a lower ranking. It is absence. The shopper never sees you, and no report tells you the sale was lost. Bad product data also gets more expensive. A missing attribute, a price that differs between feed and page, or stock marked available when it is not already costs you Shopping performance in [Google Merchant Center](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/google-merchant-center). In an AI answer it can cost you the recommendation, because an assistant that cannot confirm a price or a delivery date has other retailers to choose from. Then there is margin. Assistants compare on what they can read: price, delivery cost and speed, returns, reviews. If your advantages are a generous returns window, next-day delivery or a loyalty scheme, and they live only in a PDF or a banner image, you are competing on price alone. The upside is real too. A retailer with complete, consistent data is easier for every assistant to recommend, and the same work improves Shopping ads, free listings and organic product results today. You do not have to bet on which platform wins. ## What an AI shopping assistant needs from a retailer Across the platforms, the requirements are close to identical. In our audits, these seven decide whether a product is even considered. 1. Complete product data in the feeds that reach assistants. That means Merchant Center for Google, and Shopify Catalog or a direct product feed for ChatGPT. Fill identifiers (GTIN, brand, MPN), variant attributes (size, colour, material) and the details shoppers filter on, then add Google's conversational attributes where they apply. 2. One price and one stock level everywhere. Feed, structured data, product page and checkout must agree. OpenAI's merchant documentation asks for daily feed snapshots; if your prices change during the day, a once-a-day feed will be wrong for part of it. 3. Delivery and returns as data. Delivery costs, delivery times and return windows belong in Merchant Center settings and in [structured data](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/structured-data-for-ai-search), not only on a policy page. These are the facts an assistant compares when two products look the same. Our guide to [product pages and schema for AI answers](https://marketingsignals.com/insights/product-pages-and-schema-for-ai-answers) covers the markup. 4. Product pages that answer the follow-up questions. Assistants break one request into many smaller searches. Pages that say who a product is for, how it fits, what it works with and how it compares give the assistant something to use; a two-line manufacturer description does not. 5. Reviews that are genuine, recent and visible, on your own pages and on the third-party platforms assistants read. 6. Mentions in sources assistants trust. Editorial reviews, buying guides, comparison sites and forums shape which brands appear in an answer before any feed is checked. This is where Digital PR and search work meet. 7. A checkout that can accept an agent when your market gets one. In practice that means a platform and payment provider that support the protocols (Shopify co-developed UCP, Stripe co-developed the Agentic Commerce Protocol), a guest checkout and clean order confirmations. For a UK retailer there is nothing bespoke to build yet. ## A readiness checklist for this quarter - Run a [Merchant Center feed audit](https://marketingsignals.com/insights/google-merchant-center-feed-optimisation): disapprovals, missing GTINs, empty attributes, and price or stock mismatches between feed and page. - Check how often prices and stock update in each feed, and match it to how often they actually change. - Put delivery costs, delivery times and return windows into Merchant Center and your structured data. - Rewrite descriptions for your top revenue products so they answer real shopping questions, starting with your best sellers. - Confirm your products reach ChatGPT, through Shopify Catalog or a direct feed application. - Track a fixed set of shopping prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode and Perplexity, and record who gets recommended instead of you. - Ask your platform and payment provider for a dated roadmap for UCP and Agentic Commerce Protocol support in the UK. Our [e-commerce visibility playbook](https://marketingsignals.com/playbooks/the-e-commerce-visibility-playbook) covers the full programme, with versions for [marketplaces and aggregators](https://marketingsignals.com/playbooks/the-visibility-playbook-for-marketplaces-and-aggregators) and for [fashion e-commerce](https://marketingsignals.com/playbooks/the-visibility-playbook-for-fashion-e-commerce), where size, fit and returns data carry extra weight. ## How to measure it Do not measure agentic commerce as a channel yet. Measure the inputs that decide whether you are chosen, and the referrals that already arrive. - AI referral sessions, orders and revenue in analytics, split by assistant (chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and similar referrers). - [AI share of voice](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/ai-share-of-voice) on a fixed set of shopping prompts per category, tracked monthly against named competitors. - Feed health: the share of products approved, attribute completeness, and price or stock mismatches. - Product coverage: how many of your top revenue products appear in AI shopping answers at all. What to report upwards: one line on revenue from AI referrals, one on share of voice against your three nearest competitors, and one on data quality. A board can follow all three without a glossary. ## Where we would not spend money yet - Bespoke agent integrations for a UK-only business before UK checkout exists. Let your platform do that work when it arrives. - Running it as a project separate from Shopping and SEO. It is the same product data. - Chasing every announcement. Plan on what is live in your markets and review the position each quarter. - Treating a protocol as a shortcut. No protocol makes a retailer with thin data and no reviews the recommended choice. - Assuming it fits every business. If your products are bespoke, quote-based or mainly sold in store, the research stage matters and agent checkout mostly does not. ## Questions to ask your team or agency - When we ask ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Mode to recommend products in our category, which of our best sellers appear, and who appears instead? - How many of our products have a price or stock mismatch between feed and page today? - Are delivery and returns in our feeds and structured data, or only on a policy page? - What has our platform said, with dates, about agent checkout support in the UK? - How much revenue came from AI referrals last quarter, and which way is it moving? ## How we help We help e-commerce teams get chosen in AI answers through [AI search optimisation](https://marketingsignals.com/service/ai-search-optimisation): product data, content and the brand mentions assistants rely on, measured on revenue. If you want to know where you stand before agent checkout reaches the UK, [book a growth plan call](https://marketingsignals.com/contact-us). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is agentic commerce? Agentic commerce is shopping where an AI assistant does part of the work for the shopper: researching products, comparing options and, in some markets, completing the purchase within limits the shopper sets. The retailer normally stays the merchant of record, handling payment, fulfilment and returns. As of November 2026, AI research and comparison are widely available, while agent checkout is mostly limited to the US. ### Can ChatGPT buy products for you? OpenAI launched Instant Checkout in ChatGPT for US users in September 2025, starting with Etsy sellers. In March 2026 it refocused ChatGPT shopping on product discovery, saying the first version of Instant Checkout did not offer the flexibility it wanted, and let merchants use their own checkout. Most ChatGPT shopping now ends on the retailer's own site or in a retailer's app. ### Is Google's agentic checkout available in the UK? Not as of November 2026. Google's agentic checkout, checkout through the Universal Commerce Protocol and Universal Cart are live in the US. In May 2026 Google said UCP-powered checkout would roll out in Canada and Australia in the coming months and later in the UK, without a date. UK shoppers can use AI Mode for research, then buy on the retailer's site. ### How do you get products recommended by AI shopping assistants? Give assistants data they can trust. Keep product feeds complete, with identifiers and attributes filled. Make price and stock match across feed, page and checkout. Publish delivery and returns details as data, write product pages that answer real questions, collect genuine reviews and earn mentions in the reviews and guides assistants read. Then track a fixed set of shopping prompts to see whether you appear. ### Does agentic checkout mean retailers lose the customer? Not under the systems live today. Both OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol and Google's Universal Commerce Protocol keep the retailer as merchant of record, so the retailer takes the payment, fulfils the order, handles returns and receives the order details. What retailers risk losing is the choice: the assistant decides which retailers make the shortlist. ## Sources - [OpenAI: Buy it in ChatGPT: Instant Checkout and the Agentic Commerce Protocol (29 September 2025)](https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/) - [OpenAI: Powering product discovery in ChatGPT (24 March 2026)](https://openai.com/index/powering-product-discovery-in-chatgpt/) - [OpenAI Help Center: Shopping in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11128490) - [OpenAI for developers: Agentic commerce key concepts](https://developers.openai.com/commerce/guides/key-concepts) - [Google: Let AI do the hard parts of your holiday shopping (13 November 2025)](https://blog.google/products/shopping/agentic-checkout-holiday-ai-shopping/) - [Google: New tech and tools for retailers to succeed in an agentic shopping era (11 January 2026)](https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/agentic-commerce-ai-tools-protocol-retailers-platforms/) - [Google: Introducing Universal Cart and agentic shopping (19 May 2026)](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/google-shopping-cart/) - [Google: Google helps retailers thrive with new UCP and AI tools (20 May 2026)](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/shopping-updates-google-marketing-live/) - [Google: Universal Cart rolls out in the US (15 October 2026)](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/universal-cart-launch/) - [PayPal: PayPal and Perplexity launch Instant Buy (25 November 2025)](https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-11-PayPal-and-Perplexity-Launch-Instant-Buy) - [9to5Google: Google AI Mode rolling out in the UK (28 July 2025)](https://9to5google.com/2025/07/28/google-ai-mode-uk/) Visibility Playbooks ## Related Playbooks More Insights ## More articles we think you’ll like