As the holiday shopping season hits, Google announced a major upgrade in the online shopping experience through its new AI-powered features.
The company announced Nov. 13 a set of tools that streamline gift discovery, comparison shopping, price tracking, and checkout. The updates aim to help shoppers save time and help retailers prepare for a season shaped by assistive AI.
“Say goodbye to endless filter clicks and picking the perfect keywords,” said Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president and general manager of Ads and Commerce at Google. “We’re unwrapping our biggest upgrade to shopping in AI Mode in Search, so you can describe what you’re looking for just as you’d say it to a friend and get a thorough response with accurate shopping data you can trust.”
Additional Insights
How different AI models impact marketing and search
How Google AI upgrades will work
Instead of typing short keywords, users can now describe what they want the same way they would talk to a friend or a colleague. Shoppers can input searches such as “cozy sweaters for happy hour in warm autumn colors” and get a curated set of products with visuals, reviews, prices, and availability.
This reinforces a growing trend of natural language queries. Retailers need product pages, as well as metadata that match how people now search. Clear descriptions, detailed attributes, and strong schema markup help AI platforms understand and surface the right items.
“By bringing Gemini models and our Shopping Graph together, you can shop confidently while saving time and money this holiday season,” Srinivasan said.
How the change affects Gemini App
Users can brainstorm gift ideas, compare products, check prices, and open buy links without leaving the chat on Gemini App. It will feel like having a personal shopping assistant right in your hand.
What this means for marketers is that discovery is no longer limited to just traditional search results. Products will now need clean data feeds, quality images, and up-to-date reviews to be competitive.
What is Agentic AI?
Agentic AI will check local store inventory. Here’s how it will work:
- If you search for a product “near me,” you’ll see a “Let Google Call” option. Google AI will (on your behalf) call local stores to check availability, price, promos, and then send you a summary via text or email. This is rolling out in the U.S. for categories like toys, health & beauty, and electronics.
- The Agentic checkout feature allows customers to track a specific item (size, color, budget) and when the price drops to meet your criteria, Google gives you the option to complete the purchase via Google Pay at the merchant’s site (after your confirmation). Eligible merchants include Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, and select Shopify merchants in the U.S. to start.
What the shift means for marketers and retailers
Retailers should prepare for a surge in “assistive” shopping behaviors (e.g., voice/AI driven, local inventory checking). Being listed and accurate in the Shopping Graph becomes even more critical.
Price-tracking and agentic checkout features could shift how consumers behave: rather than manually monitoring sales they’ll let AI trigger purchases; being eligible for these features (or working with Google/partners) could be a competitive edge.
Local retailers can see a benefit. Google’s “call” functionality drives foot traffic by advertising real-time local stock and promos. Thus, it ensures inventory is synced and offers are up to date is important.
From a content/SEO perspective, conversational queries (long-form, natural language) will increase, so product pages and schema should handle more descriptive search queries (e.g., “holiday wellness gifts under $50 that ship fast”), not just “best gifts of 2025”.
As for the user experience, marketers must ensure frictionless checkout, clear shipping/payment integration, and that product data (images, reviews, sizing, availability) is up-to-date, since the AI experience depends on high-quality product information.
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