New Delhi, Jan. 12 -- Google has outlined a series of new initiatives, claimed to reshape online shopping through what it calls agentic commerce, a model in which artificial intelligence systems can complete shopping-related tasks on behalf of users.

In a blog post published on Sunday, the company said the approach is moving from theory into real-world deployment, with new standards, retailer tools and advertising formats being introduced.

At the centre of the announcement is the launch of the Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP. Google describes it as an open standard designed to allow AI agents, retailers and payment systems to work together across the full shopping journey, including product discovery, checkout and post-purchase supp...