Google / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
The search giant's AI assistant is learning to shop for you, starting with one of India's biggest e-commerce platforms.
Google is piloting a feature that lets select users in India buy products from Flipkart without ever leaving the Gemini app or AI Mode in Search. The limited test kicked off in October 2026, with a broader rollout planned for later in the month.
How agentic commerce actually works #
The feature sits under Google’s growing umbrella of “agentic commerce.” The AI doesn’t just answer your question about which laptop to buy. It finds options, compares prices, and processes the purchase, all within the chat window.
Powering this capability is the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard Google introduced in January 2026. UCP acts as a shared language between AI systems and retailers, letting an assistant like Gemini communicate with a store’s inventory and checkout systems in a standardized way. Flipkart is one of the early adopters, alongside heavyweights like Walmart, Target, Wayfair, and Shopify.
On the payment side, Google Pay serves as the primary checkout method for Gemini purchases, with PayPal support on the roadmap. For the Indian market specifically, there are parallel pilots exploring UPI-based payments through partnerships with providers like Razorpay. An important detail: the retailers remain the seller of record.
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India as the testing ground #
In April 2026, Gemini’s enhanced shopping tools rolled out in India, giving users shoppable product listings, price comparisons, and direct purchase links within chat interactions. Those features work in both English and Hindi, powered by Google’s Shopping Graph, a massive database that maps product availability, pricing, and seller information across the web.
The April rollout allowed users to browse and compare, but they still got bounced to external sites to complete purchases. The Flipkart integration closes that loop, keeping the entire journey inside Gemini.
The bigger picture for Google and retail #
The in-app checkout feature is still in beta, with the phased rollout approach suggesting Google is being cautious about scaling. The integration of UPI payments through Razorpay, with initial brand partnerships including BigBasket, points to Google’s intent to make Gemini commerce feel native to Indian consumers.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our