Google Gemini Can Now Buy Stuff for You in Canada

Canadians can now buy products from a handful of retailers right inside Google’s Gemini app and AI Mode in Google Search, without jumping to a separate store website. The first stores on board include Lululemon, Shoppers Drug Mart, Simons and select Shopify merchants.

Google announced the launch in a blog post written by Sabrina Geremia, vice president and country managing director of Google Canada. The company calls it “direct checkout”, and it is rolling out starting today, November 4, 2026.

What ‘agentic’ shopping means

In Google’s words, this is agentic commerce, which in plain terms means the AI does more than help you find a product. With your permission, it can also help complete tasks for you, such as placing the order while you are still researching on Google.

Behind the feature is the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard Google launched with industry partners earlier this year. According to the company, UCP gives shopping agents, retailers and payment providers a common language, so each store does not need a custom connection for every step from discovery and buying to post-purchase support.

How checkout works

Payments run through Google Pay, using the cards and shipping details people already have saved in Google Wallet. Retailers remain the seller of record, meaning the purchase is still made with the store itself, and each retailer can customize how the integration works for its business.

Over the coming months, Google says it will work with retailers to add more capabilities, such as applying loyalty rewards at checkout. Starting next year, the company also plans to make a simplified UCP integration available in Merchant Center, so more retailers can turn on direct checkout for their listings in the Gemini app and AI Mode from their own accounts.

Why Google is pushing this now

Citing its own research, Google says 59 per cent of Canadian holiday shoppers plan to use an AI tool to help them shop this season. The company says Canadians are already using AI to find ideas, compare features, prices and deals, and even get help with setup after a purchase.

For retailers, Google frames direct checkout as a way to reduce abandoned carts, which it says spike when shoppers have to juggle tabs, apps and stores to finish a purchase. AI agents buying on a user’s behalf have not always gone smoothly, as seen when Meta’s Muse AI was blocked from completing Amazon purchases, so Google’s approach of working directly with stores could avoid that kind of friction.

Google’s AI tools have been expanding quickly in Canada, with Gemini recently gaining the ability to edit documents, PDFs and spreadsheets right in chat. Shopping is a natural next step, especially heading into the holiday rush.

Would you let Google’s AI complete a purchase for you, or do you prefer to check out on the retailer’s own site?