Google’s and Walmart’s leaders are both betting the future of retail on AI and technologies like drone delivery.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai and incoming Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner — who will become the company’s next CEO in February — revealed how AI is reshaping search and shopping during a Sunday keynote at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York City. The annual event is one of the most important retail conferences for marketers and retailers.
Google and Walmart will partner closely, the CEOs revealed.
One of the biggest reveals is that shoppers will be able to purchase Walmart and Sam’s Club products through Google’s AI chatbot Gemini.
Google will be able to pull the retailers’ assortments and prices to help customers see what products are available, Furner said.
Walmart and Sam’s Club loyalty members can also link their accounts to Gemini, which will help Gemini understand information like preferences based on shopping history.
“We think the future will be very personalized, it will be very convenient,” Furner said.
A new protocol for retailers
Google also announced an AI protocol called Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) aimed at becoming the industry standard for retailers’ AI agents and systems. Google developed it with Walmart, Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, and Target, and Pichai said UCP is meant to be a global protocol that can also work with existing agent protocols.
“It was built to meet the needs of retailers and customers, keeping the full customer relationship front and center from the moments of discovery, decision, and beyond,” Pichai said.
The first use case of the protocol powers a native checkout button on Google’s AI Mode and Gemini products.
A conversation with a large language model (LLM) might pull up suggested products to buy, and retailers can use UCP to personalize the message around those products. For example, a new shopper may be prompted to sign up for a loyalty program, whereas an existing shopper might see personalized offers, which can be purchased through that same conversation using Google Pay.
In theory, the protocol lets retailers use Google’s AI tools while still retaining control.
