Intro
In part two of our blog series on agentic checkout and AI shopping, our experts discuss and inform on what your business needs to facilitate agentic checkout when it rolls out in your locale.
Read Part One: How is Google Shopping AI changing eCommerce?
Being prepared to serve customers via AI shopping and agentic checkout in search tools such as Google Gemini and other Large Language Models (LLMs) will help you gain a competitive edge over your competitors.
So, what exactly is agentic checkout, and why do businesses need to consider it?
A Brief Overview of Agentic Checkout
Google recently pushed a new update in November/December of 2025 that will enable searchers and potential customers to buy products directly from Google Gemini’s chat window.
When we mention agentic checkout, this is what we mean. To break down the term, an AI ‘agent’ helps your customers checkout using an AI chatbot or LLM that is external to your website. It works in a similar way to Google Merchant center, but more on that below.
It is worth noting that as of December 2025, agentic checkout is only being rolled out in the US for selected merchants (but they have plans to roll-out agentic search worldwide soon).
With a game changing rollout planned for UK-based businesses, it naturally leads us as marketers and business owners to ask:
How Do I Prepare for AI Checkout?
The good news is that, with some minor website changes, most eCommerce clients will be able to exploit agentic checkout already, assuming they use Google Merchant Center. The main ‘new’ thing that a website will need to facilitate this new kind of checkout is a technology called ACP (agentic commerce protocol).
Let’s break it down and cover the essentials every business will need:
Google Merchant Center & Google My Business
Google Merchant Center is a prerequisite for agentic search to function. Without it, your products cannot show in LLM chatboxes.
If you don’t already have Google Merchant Center, then you will need to:
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Set up a Google Merchant Center account.
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Create a complete Product Feed for all your products, that is up-to-date with real-time inventory, accurate images, detailed product specifications, and competitive pricing.
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With this set up correctly, you’ll also need your business to support the required purchase features. This means you must have Guest Checkout functionality and have Google Pay for transactions integrated. This will allow customers to buy your products directly from the LLM chat window.
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Make sure your business profile is accurate and up-to-date. This means making sure your contact information, opening hours, and business address are correct.
No matter if you already have a Google Merchant Center account or not, all businesses that want to be eligible for agentic search will need to:
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Regularly monitor metrics on Merchant Center. Keeping a close eye on your metrics will let you know how your products are performing and help you troubleshoot any inaccuracies or issues that may arise. This can be critical to gaining exposure and maintaining product exposure via agentic search.
Setting up Google Merchant Center is only half the battle for getting your foundation laid, as a part of the process will involve making sure GMB (Google My Business) is fully up-to-date by:
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Claiming a Google My Business account if you don’t already have one.
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Provide your business information and select a primary category that best describes your business.
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If you have a physical location, specify the full address. Providing an area you serve is also recommended.
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Add contact information, such as any phone numbers or email addresses you use for the business.
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Include your website address.
The verification process includes postal verification, phone verification, and email verification options - whatever is easiest for you.
With a Google My Business Profile set up, you’ll need to:
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Add business hours
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Add a business description
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Add photos of your business
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Add the services you provide
Any attributes that define your business, such as “woman owned”, “LGBTQ+ friendly”, and so on.
Agentic Checkout: Getting It Right
With a solid foundation in GMB and Google Merchant Center, the next step to make sure your business is eligible for agentic checkout is to follow the ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol).
This is where things get a bit more technical, and where you might need a developer if your website isn’t already able to support ACP.
In layman’s terms, ACP is how LLM chatbots and AI will find your products and make them available to buy via agentic checkout. ACP structures your website and product information in a way LLMs can understand easily.
Think of ACP as a set of rules that allows AI to interact with your website to:
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Authorize the purchasing of specific products via agentic checkout.
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Verify that the purchasing request is authentic.
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To ensure that accountability is considered if something goes wrong during the checkout process.
In real terms, this means that as a business owner, you’ll need to:
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Wait for your chosen eCommerce platform to set up ACP for your store.
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Have your developer or agency set up ACP for you.
Trust The Experts; Radiator Digital
Agentic checkout and AI search can be confusing, and it can be easy to feel left out or like you are lagging behind an evolving market.
At Radiator Digital, we are an extension of your team. From researching recent trends, to informing about emerging eCommerce technologies, our job is making your job easier.
Be it website design to a fully integrated marketing strategy, reach out to us today and have a conversation about what you need for your business and how we can make it happen together!
Jargon Buster
Need to scratch up on some jargon included in this article? Some technical terms we’ve used and what they mean:
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AI; artificial intelligence. An umbrella term for machine learning / large language models.
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LLMs; large language models. This is another name for AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, or Perplexity.
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SEM; search engine marketing. An umbrella term for all things search engine marketing, including SEO, PPC, AI LLMs, and more.
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SEO; search engine optimisation. The act of optimising a website for marketing on search engines.
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PPC; pay per click. The act of advertising your services or products online via paid adverts.
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SERPs; search engine results pages of a search engine, be it Google, Bing, or another search engine.
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Searcher Query; what a person types into a search engine. For example, ‘purple cars near me’.
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Agentic search/agentic checkout; the name given to an AI chatbot that helps you search for and buy products.
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ACP; stands for agentic commerce protocol. This is the technology that allows your website to use AI checkout features.
