Google is taking a new step toward transforming its smart assistant from a mere product search tool into a platform for completing actual purchases. The company has begun testing a feature that allows shoppers in India to buy products directly from the Flipkart commerce platform, owned by Walmart, through its Gemini assistant and the «AI Mode» tool in its search engine.

How Does the New Experiment Work?

According to specialized reports, some users in India are seeing a «Buy» button next to select product listings from Flipkart within the Gemini and AI Mode interface. When this button is pressed, the user is taken directly to Flipkart's checkout page without needing to leave the AI interface, making the purchasing experience smoother and faster.

In its initial phase, the experiment is limited to a small segment of users and a small group of products including smartphones, electronic devices, and mobile phone accessories. The rest of the users still see the usual Flipkart product listings without the direct purchase option.

Strategic Timing Before the Shopping Season

Google plans to expand this feature more broadly later in October, ahead of the festive shopping season in India, one of the most important commercial seasons in the country. During this period, major e-commerce platforms — foremost among them Flipkart and Amazon — compete fiercely by launching their biggest annual offers and discounts to attract the largest number of shoppers in the world's second-largest internet market, where the number of network users exceeds one billion subscribers.

The AI Race Toward Commerce

This move comes amid an intense race between Google and its competitors, such as OpenAI, to add commercial capabilities to their AI-based products. The shared goal is to move beyond the stage of answering shopping queries and suggesting products to a more direct role in actual online purchases.

In an official comment, a Google spokesperson explained that the company «continuously tests new features and experiences to help people discover and connect with businesses more easily,» adding that Google conducts periodic experiments of this kind without providing additional details.

The Unified Commerce Protocol

This test was not entirely surprising, as Google had previously revealed technology dedicated to enabling purchases through its smart services. Earlier this year, the company launched the «Unified Commerce Protocol» (UCP) as an open standard designed to allow AI agents to interact with retailers across various stages of the shopping journey, including completing payment.

However, the Flipkart experiment appears different from the Google-hosted payment mechanism the company previously demonstrated, as the new experiment displays a checkout page bearing the Flipkart brand when the buy button is pressed. It is not yet clear which technology specifically powers this test.

A Technical and Financial Partnership

It is worth noting that the relationship between Google and Flipkart is not limited to the technical aspect alone, but extends to a financial partnership. Google invested about $350 million in the commerce platform in 2024, as part of a funding round led by the American company Walmart, giving Google a minority stake in the company.

What About the Competitors?

So far, the direct purchase option does not appear for all the stores displayed by Google's smart services. Observers have noted that competitors' product listings, including Amazon, appear alongside Flipkart products, but without offering the direct purchase option through the AI interface, reflecting the exclusive nature of the current experiment within the existing partnership between Google and Flipkart.

It can be said that this experiment represents a clear indicator of the future direction of AI assistants, which seek to become a primary launching point for e-commerce, transforming text-based conversation into a completed commercial transaction.

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