Canadians can now buy straight from Google's AI search without leaving it

The short version

• Shoppers in Canada can now buy from some stores directly inside AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app.
• The first stores include lululemon and Shoppers Drug Mart, plus Simons and selected Shopify merchants. The retailer is still the official seller.
• From next year, Google plans to let more retailers switch on checkout themselves through Merchant Center.

What Google launched

Google calls this direct checkout. A shopper researching a product in AI Mode or Gemini can buy it on the spot. Payment runs through Google Pay. It uses the cards and shipping details people have already saved in Google Wallet.

lululemon sells sportswear, Shoppers Drug Mart is a pharmacy chain and Simons is a fashion department store. Selected Shopify merchants bring smaller online shops in from the start.

It runs on the Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP. Google launched this open standard with industry partners earlier this year. It gives AI agents, shops and payment providers a common language. That way a store does not need a separate connection for every AI service.

Google's own research says 59% of Canadian holiday shoppers plan to use an AI tool to help them shop this season.

What is new for retailers

The checkout moves to where the shopper asked the question. Until now, an AI answer would send the shopper to the store's website to pay. Retailers are still the official seller, and they can adjust the connection to their needs.

For shoppers, the pitch is fewer steps. Google describes today's online shopping as juggling dozens of tabs and jumping between apps and stores. It says abandoned carts rise when the journey gets too complicated. Direct checkout tries to close the sale before the shopper drifts away.

Google says more features are coming in the next few months, such as applying loyalty rewards.

Google's Merchant Center plan could reach far more stores. Merchant Center is where retailers already manage their product listings for Google. From next year, Google says retailers will be able to turn on direct checkout there. That would open it to many more stores.

What it means for brands in Indonesia

This launch is for Canada. Google has not said when direct checkout will reach Indonesia.

Still, more of the path from question to purchase is moving inside AI answers. Google calls the wider idea shopping by AI agents, where AI completes tasks for the shopper with their permission. Buying is the first of those tasks. UCP is also meant to cover help after the purchase. If shoppers buy where they ask, the product details an AI reads may matter as much as your own website. That makes accurate product data in Google's systems more important.

For brands that sell direct to shoppers, it is worth preparing now. Clean, complete product listings already help with search ads and shopping results today.

If points and rewards work inside an AI checkout, brand loyalty programs may need to connect to Google's systems to stay visible.

What to do next

• Check that your product listings in Google Merchant Center are complete and current. Prices and stock levels should be clear.
• Ask your e-commerce platform whether it plans to support UCP checkout.
• Keep product photos and descriptions in line with what is in stock, since an AI may show them to shoppers directly.
• Watch for Google announcing direct checkout in Indonesia or other Southeast Asian markets.
• Review how your loyalty program would work if a sale happens inside an AI answer.
• Track how much of your traffic already comes from AI search, so you can spot the shift early.