Search and shopping are starting to collapse into the identical place, as AI-driven interfaces encourage users to move from questions to purchases without leaving the conversation. Google is now applying that AI-driven shopping approach directly to its search and promoting systems. Instead of moving from a question to a product page to a checkout screen, users are being encouraged to stay inside a single conversational flow.
According to reporting by the Financial Times, Google is expanding its AI-powered shopping experience by embedding personalised ads directly into its AI chat interface. The effort is built around what the corporate calls a “Universal Commerce Protocol,” designed to let retailers support product discovery, comparisons, and purchases without sending users to external web sites.
For marketers, the change signals greater than a brand new ad format. It points to a future where search, commerce, and promotion occur in a single place, shaped by AI responses relatively than ranked links.
From search to AI-driven shopping at Google
The Universal Commerce Protocol is supposed to sit underneath Google’s AI Mode, which presents users with conversational answers as a substitute of a page of blue links. Within that flow, shoppers can ask follow-up questions, compare options, and receive tailored product suggestions. Ads and offers appear as a part of that exchange, relatively than as separate units clearly set aside from organic results.
Retailers participating in this system include large chains comparable to Walmart and Target, in addition to merchants that sell through Shopify. For these sellers, the promise is simple: fewer steps between interest and purchase, and more probabilities to influence decisions while the patron continues to be asking questions.
For users, the experience feels closer to chatting with a salesman than browsing a store. The AI can narrow selections, explain differences, and surface promotions that match what it knows concerning the shopper’s preferences and past behaviour.
A brand new form of ad environment
This setup blurs long-standing lines in digital promoting. Traditional search ads depend on keywords and clear intent signals. Display and shopping ads depend on placement and visuals. In an AI chat, intent unfolds over time, shaped by a back-and-forth conversation. Ads are inserted into that flow, often framed as helpful suggestions relatively than interruptions.
That raises questions on how marketers plan and evaluate campaigns. If a proposal appears after several prompts and follow-up questions, what triggered it? Which a part of the conversation deserves credit for the sale? Existing attribution models weren’t built for this type of environment.
Brand teams also face a tone challenge. Messages that sound like standard ad copy may feel misplaced inside a conversational answer. Offers need to align with the context of the discussion, or they risk being ignored or mistrusted. This pushes advertisers to think less about slogans and more about relevance at each step of the buying process.
Control of the client journey
The deeper issue is who owns the connection with the client. When discovery, comparison, and checkout occur inside an AI interface, retailers have less direct contact with shoppers. Email sign-ups, browsing data, and on-site behaviour are harder to capture if users never leave the chat.
At the identical time, platforms gain more influence over what products are shown and which offers appear first. Even small changes in how the AI frames options can shift demand. For large retailers, this may increasingly be a manageable trade-off for reach and convenience. For smaller brands, it could increase dependence on platform rules they don’t control.
This dynamic is just not unique to Google. Other tech firms are also testing ways to fold commerce into AI-driven experiences. The difference here is scale. Search has long been one of the essential entry points to online shopping. Changing how it really works changes the balance of power across the retail and promoting ecosystem.
Measurement stays an open query
One of the toughest problems is measurement. In a chat-based flow, impressions, clicks, and conversions don’t at all times map cleanly to user actions. A client might read several AI-generated responses, consider a product, and complete a purchase order later, all with no clear moment that appears like a click.
Marketers will need recent ways to understand performance that transcend last-touch models. They may also need clarity on how data is shared, what signals can be found, and how privacy rules are applied inside conversational systems.
Without that transparency, some brands may hesitate to shift large budgets into AI chat commerce, even when the reach is attractive.
What AI-powered shopping means for marketing teams
For now, Google’s move offers a preview of where digital commerce is heading. The path from query to purchase is becoming shorter and more guided, with AI acting as each advisor and gatekeeper.
Marketing teams should see this as a signal to rethink how they show up during discovery, not only at checkout. Product data, pricing, availability, and tone all matter more when decisions are made inside a conversation relatively than on a product page.
The broader shift is evident. Advertising isn’t any longer nearly being visible. It is about being useful at the appropriate moment, inside systems which are designed to keep users from ever leaving.
(Photo by Solen Feyissa)
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