Shopify President Harley Finkelstein: AI is the Biggest Shift in Commerce Since the Internet
The e-commerce giant has partnered with Google to usher in the era of 'Agentic Commerce', natively integrating online shopping into AI agents.
Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform, recently announced a significant partnership with Google to advance “agentic commerce“.
This is a strategy focused on enabling AI agents to autonomously handle shopping tasks such as product discovery, recommendations, and transactions within conversational AI interfaces like chatbots and search tools.
This collaboration was unveiled on January 11, 2026, during the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference, marking a push toward seamless, AI-driven retail experiences that bypass traditional websites.
Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
At the core of the partnership is the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open-source standard co-developed by Shopify and Google. UCP serves as a common framework for AI agents to securely connect with merchants, allowing for real-time product syndication, inventory checks, and checkouts across various platforms.
It integrates with existing protocols like Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) for secure payments and is designed to be vendor-agnostic, supporting interoperability in agentic ecosystems. The protocol has garnered endorsements from over 20 major players, including Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart, Adyen, American Express, Best Buy, Flipkart, Macy’s, Mastercard, Stripe, The Home Depot, Visa, and Zalando, positioning it as a potential industry standard for AI-facilitated commerce.
As part of this initiative, Shopify merchants will soon be able to sell directly within Google’s AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app, with transactions powered by UCP and managed centrally through Shopify’s Admin via Agentic Storefronts.
Shopify is also enhancing its integration with Microsoft Copilot, embedding a checkout experience, and extending support to other AI channels like ChatGPT and the Shop app. This allows merchants to syndicate real-time product data and enable in-conversation purchases without needing custom apps or an online store.
The Agentic Plan
Shopify’s broader strategy for agentic commerce emphasizes scalability and accessibility, aiming to turn AI conversations into direct revenue streams for retailers of all sizes. The company is introducing an “Agentic Plan” that lets brands instantly distribute products to AI chats, focusing on secure, embedded checkouts to reduce friction and boost conversions.
This positions Shopify as a central hub in the evolving AI commerce landscape, competing with initiatives like OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) developed with Stripe, while leveraging its merchant-focused expertise to drive adoption. Recent social media buzz highlights the excitement, with users noting UCP’s potential to revolutionize AI-retailer interactions.
Overall, this partnership underscores a shift toward an “AI-first” retail model, where agents handle end-to-end shopping to meet growing consumer demand for personalized, efficient experiences.
