The news: Google is adding agentic checkout to its shopping capabilities in time for the holiday season.

The company also announced a slew of other AI-powered features, including conversational shopping in Google’s AI mode and an agentic tool that can call nearby stores to check if items are in stock.

The details: Shoppers can use Google to track an item’s price and get an alert when it reaches the specified target. Users can then delegate the agent to purchase the item on their behalf on (participating) merchants’ sites using Google Pay.

• Google said it will always ask for permission first, and only complete the purchase after the user confirms the order and shipping details.
• For now, the experience is limited to purchases from Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, and a number of Shopify sellers.

The trend: GenAI shopping tools are poised to play a much larger role this holiday season. Salesforce estimates that AI and agents will drive more than one-fifth of holiday sales this year as more consumers turn to the technology to find gifts and unearth the best deals.

• Half of Gen Zers and 49% of millennials said they would hand over gift-buying responsibility to AI if it meant avoiding stress, according to a Mastercard survey conducted by the Harris Poll.
• Roughly 2 in 5 US shoppers (42%) would be very or somewhat likely to allow agents to purchase on their behalf, provided they could guarantee securing the best price, per YouGov.

By emphasizing its ability to help secure lower costs, Google could persuade penny-pinching shoppers to experiment with its agentic checkout capabilities.

What it means for Google: These updates defend Google’s core search ad business as shopping queries move toward conversational interfaces, even as the company still dominates the search journey. Thirty percent of holiday shoppers use Google as an entry point, compared with 13% for ChatGPT and 4% for general AI chatbots and assistants, per Bain & Company. The updates are also a strategic play to keep consumers inside Google’s ecosystem—Search, Gemini, GPay—throughout the entire shopping journey.

What it means for consumers: Google’s new agentic features could get shoppers comfortable with the idea of handing over the keys to an AI agent. Consumers are more than twice as likely to trust tech companies like Google to handle the entire shopping journey than AI platforms like ChatGPT, according to Bain.

However, the current clunkiness of agentic shopping could be a turn-off. The relatively small array of merchant partners also restricts the services’ utility in the short term.

What brands should do: While shoppers get faster product discovery, the increased automation means consumers will be relying more heavily on Google as their decision-maker. A greater emphasis on generative engine optimization (GEO) could help brands remain visible and relevant throughout the AI shopping process; this includes maintaining structured product data, keeping inventory statuses updated in real time, and introducing ad placements tailored for conversational contexts.

Given the risk of losing direct customer relationships to AI shopping assistants, brands need to think seriously about how they work with Google, ChatGPT, and other platforms to ensure they remain discoverable.

Go further: Read our latest report on What ChatGPT Instant Checkout Means for Brands and Retailers.