Google updates AI shopping agents with cart, catalog, loyalty features

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Google announced new capabilities for its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) on March 19, 2026, enabling AI shopping agents to manage carts, query live product catalogs and integrate loyalty programs, while simplifying retailer onboarding.

The update aims to accelerate the adoption of agentic commerce by enhancing the functionality of AI agents and streamlining the process for retailers to connect their inventory and services.

The new Cart capability allows AI agents to add multiple items from a single retailer into a shopping cart in one operation, supporting pre-purchase exploration, according to Google.

A Catalog capability now permits agents to query real-time product details, including variants, pricing and stock levels, directly from a retailer’s inventory.

Google also introduced Identity Linking, which enables shoppers to connect their retailer accounts to UCP-integrated platforms via OAuth 2.0. This feature is designed to preserve loyalty benefits such as member pricing and free shipping, addressing a key barrier to agentic commerce adoption, Google said.

The company is building a simplified UCP onboarding process directly into Merchant Center, targeting retailers that do not have dedicated engineering teams.

Commerce Inc., Salesforce and Stripe are set to implement UCP on their platforms, which will abstract the protocol’s complexity for retailers.

Salesforce plans to support both UCP and OpenAI and Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), allowing merchants to reach agents on both Google AI Mode and ChatGPT.

Stripe, a co-creator of ACP, is also implementing UCP and is becoming a shared payment layer across both protocols.

The March update brings UCP closer to feature parity with ACP, which launched with cart management and catalog access in September 2025.

Identity Linking is highlighted as UCP’s clearest differentiator over ACP, according to industry observers.

Source: Search Engine Journal