The Universal Commerce Protocol: transforming AI shopping with Marello OMS

Shopping in 2026 is evolving rapidly. With the rise of AI-powered assistants and new technologies, the way customers find and buy products is changing. Google’s universal commerce protocol (UCP) plays a key role here. It allows AI agents and merchants to work together easily. This blog explores UCP, how it affects your product data, and how Marello’s Order Management System (OMS) helps your business grow in this new landscape.

What is the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)?

UCP is an open standard created by Google and major retail partners. Its goal is to create a unified approach so AI agents can talk to e-commerce platforms, payment services, and shoppers. This happens across many channels without needing custom setups. The universal commerce protocol helps AI assistants manage the whole shopping journey by focusing on these areas:

• Easy product discovery and price comparison across different platforms.
• Secure handling of payments while you stay as the Merchant of Record.
• A standard way to share stock and pricing data with tools like Gemini.

Why UCP matters for your product data and Google Shopping

To stay visible in Google Shopping and emerging AI-driven shopping experiences, your product data must be structured, consistent, and continuously updated. The Universal Commerce Protocol sets stricter expectations for how product, pricing, and availability data is shared with Google and AI shopping agents. It builds on existing Google Shopping requirements but moves closer to real-time, system-to-system communication instead of static feeds.

UCP makes product data more actionable by standardising how key attributes are exposed. This includes identifiers such as GTIN, SKU, brand, and category, as well as variant-level details like size, colour, and condition. When this data is aligned and complete, AI systems can reliably match products to user intent, compare offers accurately, and reduce errors such as showing unavailable or incorrect variants.

For Google Shopping specifically, UCP improves data quality in three critical areas:

• Availability and pricing accuracy: real-time synchronisation prevents discrepancies between what shoppers see and what can actually be fulfilled, reducing disapprovals and lost conversions.
• Variant-level visibility: clear parent–child relationships ensure Google and AI agents surface the correct product variant, which is essential for fashion, electronics, and configurable products.
• Operational trust signals: consistent stock, fulfilment, and returns data strengthens your merchant reliability, which increasingly influences visibility in AI-powered shopping results.

By aligning your product data with UCP principles, you move from “feed optimisation” to “commerce readiness.” This ensures Google Shopping, Gemini, and future AI shopping interfaces can not only find your products, but confidently recommend and transact them on your behalf.

How Marello OMS supports your UCP integration

Marello’s Order Management System connects your back-office tasks with operational excellence. In a UCP-enabled world, Marello OMS offers strategic benefits. It keeps your product and inventory data accurate across all sales channels to meet real-time demands. Furthermore, it allows you to process orders from AI agents automatically, from the first payment to final delivery.

By connecting Marello OMS with platforms that use the universal commerce protocol, you can manage post-purchase service efficiently. This integration ensures seamless integration of your sales and helps you stay ahead of the competition.

Unlocking growth with AI shopping and Marello

The universal commerce protocol shows that AI will be central to how people shop in the future. Partnering with technology like Marello OMS means your business can adapt quickly. You can take the following steps to grow:

• Update your data to meet new AI standards for better visibility.
• Fulfill orders submitted through AI-driven commerce agents and platforms.
• Use actionable insights from your sales data to make smart decisions.
• Connect your OMS with Google Merchant Center for a stronger presence.

Now is the time to prepare your systems for this change. Marello provides flexible solutions built for these modern demands. To get started, you can review how Marello unifies sales channels or explore integrations for your business.

Conclusion

The universal commerce protocol starts a new era of AI-driven shopping. It requires precise data and fast order management. Marello OMS is ready to be your partner, connecting your operations with Google’s AI commerce tools. Take control of your growth today with Marello’s unified commerce solutions.

Explore Marello’s full feature set and see how we help merchants adapt.