Google brings checkout inside AI shopping conversations in Canada

Canadian shoppers can now move from researching a product with Google’s AI tools to buying it within the same experience. Google began rolling out direct checkout in Search’s AI Mode and the Gemini app on November 4, connecting its shopping conversations to participating retailers rather than sending shoppers elsewhere to complete every purchase.

The Canadian rollout includes lululemon, select Shopify merchants, Shoppers Drug Mart and Simons. The feature lets shoppers purchase from eligible retailers while researching on Google. Participation is limited to those eligible sellers; the announcement does not describe a checkout option for every store a shopper might encounter.

A shared language behind the buy button

The connection runs on the Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP. Google says it launched the open standard with industry partners earlier this year. Its purpose is to give AI agents, retailers and payment providers a common language, rather than requiring a separate connection for every part of a shopping transaction.

Google describes UCP as covering discovery, buying and post-purchase support. That is the technical foundation for what it calls agentic commerce: AI that helps complete tasks on a shopper’s behalf, with permission, instead of only suggesting products. The concrete addition in Canada is direct checkout inside the two Google experiences.

Payment uses Google Pay, drawing on payment methods and shipping information already saved in Google Wallet. Those saved details support the checkout step within the AI shopping experience. Google is bringing the purchase interface into Search and Gemini, but that does not make Google the seller of the goods.

Lululemon starts one item at a time

Lululemon’s own announcement gives a more specific view of the handoff. The retailer says shoppers can discover, select and purchase its products through a conversational journey in the U.S. and Canada. It will continue handling order processing, shipping and returns as it does when customers buy directly from its website.

There is an important launch limit: lululemon says its initial release supports single-item checkout. Multi-item support is coming soon, according to the retailer, which gives no specific date. That limitation applies to lululemon’s stated implementation; it is not a disclosed checkout rule for every merchant in Google’s Canadian rollout.

Broader access comes later

Google’s next steps address two different parts of the experience: making it easier for retailers to connect, and adding capabilities for shoppers after that connection exists. Both are plans beyond the checkout rollout beginning now, rather than features Google says are already available to all participating Canadian shoppers.

• Merchant integration: Starting in 2027, Google plans to offer simplified UCP integration within Merchant Center. Retailers would be able to enable direct checkout and other product-listing capabilities across Gemini and AI Mode from their accounts.
• Loyalty rewards: Google plans to work with retailers in the coming months on additional capabilities, including applying loyalty rewards. It has not attached a specific launch date to that addition.