NEW YORK – Buy now, pay later provider Splitit announced its support for Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), signaling growing momentum for standardized approaches to AI-driven commerce. “Ashish Gupta, VP/GM of Merchant Shopping at Google, stated that Splitit’s endorsement reflects broader industry commitment to embedding consumer choice and merchant success into the foundations of agentic commerce.”
The move highlights the increasing importance of open standards in agentic commerce, where AI agents autonomously make purchasing decisions for users. Interoperability and trust are key to wider adoption, and protocols like UCP aim to provide a secure and transparent foundation for these transactions.
UCP Gains Traction
Google developed UCP in collaboration with major retailers including Shopify, Target, Walmart, Etsy, and Wayfair. The protocol is designed to facilitate AI agents in completing purchases seamlessly and securely on behalf of consumers.
Splitit’s backing suggests broader industry acceptance of UCP as a foundational element for future AI-driven retail experiences. The protocol aims to ensure that consumer preferences and merchant requirements are integrated into the core of agentic commerce systems.
Verifiable Intent for Trusted Transactions
Mastercard and Google are also collaborating on Verifiable Intent, an open standard focused on establishing trust in agentic commerce transactions. Checkout.com and Worldpay are providing support for this initiative.
Verifiable Intent seeks to provide a mechanism for verifying the authenticity and intent behind AI agent-initiated purchases. This is crucial for building consumer confidence and preventing fraudulent activities in the emerging landscape of automated commerce.
Consumer Readiness on the Rise
A recent study indicates a growing consumer appetite for AI-driven shopping experiences. The study found that 47% of consumers plan to use an AI agent for Christmas shopping in 2025.
This projected increase points to a significant shift towards mainstream adoption of automated shopping. The development and implementation of robust standards and protocols will be essential to accommodate this growing demand.
Background: The increasing adoption of open standards like UCP and Verifiable Intent is crucial for developers and builders as it promotes interoperability and trust, paving the way for wider adoption of agentic commerce and AI-driven retail experiences.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Universal Commerce Protocol is an open standard developed by Google in collaboration with major retailers to enable secure and transparent agentic commerce transactions. It provides a standardized foundation that allows AI agents to autonomously make purchasing decisions while maintaining interoperability and consumer trust across different platforms and merchants.
Splitit’s endorsement reflects the broader industry commitment to standardized approaches in agentic commerce. As a buy now, pay later provider, Splitit’s support demonstrates growing momentum for open standards that embed consumer choice and merchant success into AI-driven commerce solutions.
Agentic commerce refers to AI agents that autonomously make purchasing decisions for users. Standardized protocols like UCP are essential because they ensure interoperability between different systems and build trust in these transactions, which are critical requirements for wider adoption of AI-driven commerce.
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