Google and OpenAI Are Racing For Platform Benefit …
Google entered the agentic commerce race at NRF final week, saying the Common Commerce Protocol (UCP). UCP is an open normal for agentic commerce, which Google codeveloped with a number of retailers (Etsy, Goal, and Walmart, amongst others) and tech companions (Salesforce and Shopify, amongst others). Google is second to market with an agentic commerce protocol after OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) launch final October — initiating a race for platform benefit in agentic commerce.
- Google’s UCP. Google focuses on broader commerce journeys by offering contextual provides primarily based on client searches (doubtless the inspiration for ad-based monetization). It additionally permits AI brokers to authenticate clients and retrieve loyalty data. UCP goes a step additional by allowing brokers to show low cost information throughout checkout — bringing loyalty and pricing to the agentic realm. It additionally launched model enterprise brokers that may operate like digital gross sales associates.
- OpenAI’s ACP. OpenAI at the moment doesn’t have a pathway for broader commerce journeys like UCP, besides by providing retailers management for promotions and provides through 15-minute refreshes via its product information spec feed. In comparison with Google, OpenAI is concentrated on compressing the commerce journey from discovery to “instantaneous checkout,” has a head begin in market with its protocol, and has established itself as the reply engine of alternative amongst customers.
As a well-established, trusted associate to manufacturers and retailers, Google is racing to distribute its search-based commerce infrastructure: Shopping Graph, Service provider Heart, and its cost community. OpenAI is constructing a brand new commerce infrastructure and pursuing quicker service provider adoption with minimal modifications to current techniques, in addition to conversations via chat-based interactions that validate intent earlier than surfacing merchandise. The differing approaches spotlight that manufacturers and retailers would possibly want completely different methods for search-native and agent-native commerce sooner or later.
… However Shopper Belief In Agentic Commerce Nonetheless Lags
The concept of autonomous client brokers that store on our behalf is way from actuality as we speak. The tempo of agentic commerce adoption is just not set by the existence of the tech protocols however quite how manufacturers and retailers leverage UCP and ACP to realize client belief. We have to cross a number of belief frontiers for agentic commerce to realize traction with customers:
- Larger belief in reply engine purchasing. Between February and October 2025, in accordance with Forrester’s Shopper Pulse Surveys, US client adoption of reply engines for product discovery remained largely flat, rising from 18% to 19%. With out complete and correct product information, agentic commerce will proceed to stay a mediocre product discovery software, with transactions persevering with to occur on different websites (Google’s Buying Graph may speed up this). Additionally, discovery on reply engines doesn’t but equate to conversion — Bain & Firm discovered that Amazon and Google have been far forward of OpenAI in product discovery through the 2025 vacation season.
- Larger belief in reply engine shopping for. Based on Forrester information, a majority of US customers and UK customers imagine that manufacturers will market to client brokers, however few belief these client brokers to behave on their behalf — even for routine (i.e., low-stakes) purchases. Google’s announcement lastly places Google firmly within the agentic commerce funds race, as we foresaw, however agentic funds nonetheless have restricted client adoption. In October 2025, solely 8% of US on-line adults had used OpenAI’s Immediate Checkout.
- Larger belief in agentic requirements and client protections. Different sensible concerns are nonetheless lacking that may assist customers really feel safe. For starters, 54% of US on-line adults are usually not snug giving up their private data to generative AI instruments. Then there’s the query of order points. When an agent locations an incorrect order due to inaccurately generated product content material, who’s chargeable for the return order processing? Nonetheless in its early days, Order Community eXchange is standardizing the working language for agentic commerce operations.
The Elephant In The Room For Agentic Commerce In 2026
Digital commerce continues to evolve and experiment — bear in mind the hype of conversational commerce? Based on Forrester’s report, The Digital Moments Map, 2024: US, one in 5 US on-line adults indicated that they’re snug utilizing voice for commerce. If agentic commerce is to grow to be a giant channel in distributed commerce methods, manufacturers and retailers must experiment with each ACP and UCP in 2026 earlier than sponsored content material and adverts arrive alongside chat responses.
It is usually necessary to place agentic commerce into perspective. By 2023, Amazon was already producing $484 billion in US e-commerce retail gross sales and dominated product discovery searches. By the top of 2025, Amazon had blocked each main LLM operator from its walled backyard. In our view, it’s a no-brainer for Walmart to announce (and maybe even lead) the way in which for its product catalogs to be surfaced on ACP and UCP. However, given Amazon’s depth of client and family information, Amazon is properly positioned to launch the primary set of client brokers for households.
Should you’re a Forrester shopper taken with de-risking your current commerce operations whereas working managed pilots throughout UCP and ACP in 2026, e book an inquiry or steering session with us! Chuck Gahun’s forthcoming analysis on distributed commerce methods and commerce providers evaluations will additional assist your model or retail enterprise pragmatically lean into agentic commerce. Emily Pfeiffer, Lily Varon, Rowan Curran, and Nikhil Lai are additionally obtainable to talk with you on matters comparable to agentic commerce, owned properties, agentic funds, agentic AI, agentic commerce’s impression on retail media, and extra.
