By Jordi Asensio, RocaSalvatella

Commerce has evolved from the exchange of goods to global e-commerce. Today, however, we are facing a new turning point: the shift towards a model in which artificial intelligence agents can purchase on our behalf — not only recommending products but completing the entire purchasing process. This is what the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) enables: an open standard designed to make this new paradigm, already known as agentic commerce, a reality.

UCP: a common language for AI-driven commerce

The Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open standard co-developed by Google, Shopify, Etsy, Target, Wayfair, Walmart and many other players across the global commerce and payments ecosystem. Its goal is simple yet ambitious: to provide a common language that allows AI agents, platforms and merchants to interact and complete end-to-end purchases — from discovery to payment and post-purchase support — without requiring bespoke integrations for every use case.

Unlike traditional integrations, where each e-commerce business must build individual connectors for every channel (marketplaces, apps, search engines, etc.), UCP offers a unified and extensible framework. It includes modular support for product discovery, shopping carts, checkout, order management and after-sales support, and can be extended with features such as loyalty programmes, discounts or subscriptions.

From traditional e-commerce to agentic commerce

With agentic commerce, users no longer need to manually browse a website or app to make a purchase. Instead, an AI agent can act on the user’s behalf, searching, comparing and executing transactions in an automated and personalised way.

These agents may operate in environments such as:

• AI-powered search modes (e.g. Google Search AI Mode ).
• Assistants such as Gemini, ChatGPT or Copilot.
• Conversational interfaces or integrations within third-party applications.

The protocol allows these agents to negotiate dynamically with merchants based on compatible capabilities, accepted payment methods and user preferences.

Why does it matter now?

The launch of UCP is backed by more than 20 retail and payments organisations, including leaders such as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, PayPal, Walmart, Target, The Home Depot and Zalando. This level of support shows that UCP is not a laboratory experiment, but a decisive move towards a global, AI-driven commerce ecosystem.

In addition, Google is already implementing UCP features directly within its search and assistant surfaces, allowing consumers to complete purchases within the same search experience — a significant departure from the traditional model of redirecting users to a separate website to pay. Shopify, as a co-developer of the standard, is already sharing further details and applied examples.

What changes for businesses?

1. The website is no longer just an interface
   Product pages and checkout processes are no longer designed solely for humans. They must now be interoperable with programmatic agents. Product data, inventory and commercial policies need to be structured, machine-readable and negotiable.
   
2. Value moves beyond the funnel
   The role of digital channels shifts from attracting sessions and clicks to enabling AI-compatible transactions. This represents a radical change: KPIs are no longer focused solely on traffic or conversion, but increasingly on agent-rated experiences and transactional capability.
3. Loyalty and data
   In an environment where the agent acts as an intermediary, businesses must rethink how they maintain customer relationships, data ownership and loyalty.
   How can the relationship be preserved if the agent manages the interaction? By aligning data and experience strategies to ensure brand value remains present and relevant.

Implications for channels and marketing

This shift transforms the very nature of:

• SEO and visibility: success is no longer about ranking pages, but about ensuring UCP compatibility.
• Traffic acquisition: agents do not follow the traditional funnel.
• First-party data: structured product data readiness becomes essential to be eligible for agents.
• Experience scoring: trust and policy factors (e.g. returns, shipping, guarantees) become decisive for UCP compatibility.

Risks and challenges

While UCP enables interoperability, it also introduces non-trivial challenges:

• Data control and privacy.
• Dependency on external agents.
• Displacement of the direct customer relationship.
• The need to rethink loyalty and brand strategy.

These issues are already widely debated in technology and strategy circles, as they reshape the balance of power between platforms and traditional merchants.

Where is the industry heading?

The collaboration between Google and Shopify is not an experiment; it is a future-ready architecture. Some analysts and forums are already referring to UCP as the “Stripe moment for AI-driven commerce” — a turning point that redefines how digital transactions work.

Technology is evolving rapidly, and what we now describe as agentic commerce could become the dominant infrastructure of the next decade.

In conclusion: what should companies do today?

We are at a critical moment to reassess the digital ecosystem of organisations — not only to anticipate the future, but to adapt to dynamics that are already reshaping customer relationships and purchasing processes.

From RocaSalvatella’s perspective, this new landscape calls for immediate strategic action across four key areas:

1. Auditing the readiness of product data to ensure it is accessible to agents.
2. Designing information and customer relationship strategies centred on agents.
3. Reviewing checkout structures and APIs for UCP compatibility.
4. Rethinking KPIs and digital channels to incorporate agentic commerce.

The game has changed — and those who adapt first will gain a decisive advantage.