Google is trialling a new shopping feature in India that integrates product discovery with direct checkout within its Gemini AI Mode, signalling a shift towards transactional AI interfaces amid the competitive holiday shopping period.
Google is testing a shopping feature in India that brings product discovery and checkout closer together inside Gemini and its AI Mode. According to TechCrunch, selected Flipkart listings now show a “Buy” button for a small group of users, and tapping it takes them directly into Flipkart’s checkout flow. The trial is limited for now, and it currently covers a narrow set of products, including smartphones, electronics and accessories. Reports say Google is aiming for a wider release in October, ahead of India’s festive shopping period, when major e-commerce platforms compete aggressively on price and convenience.
The experiment places Flipkart at the centre of Google’s emerging commerce strategy. Google invested about $350 million in the Indian e-commerce company in 2024 and holds a minority stake, alongside an existing technology partnership. Earlier this month, Google said Flipkart was among the merchants involved in the development of agentic shopping experiences in India, but had not yet disclosed how those tools would work in practice. The new test suggests Google is moving beyond product recommendations and comparisons, and towards transaction execution inside its AI products.
The technical approach still appears to be in flux. Google previously described a Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard intended to let AI agents move through stages of shopping, including checkout. However, the current Flipkart test does not appear to use a fully Google-hosted payment path. Instead, users are taken to a Flipkart-branded checkout, which implies that Google is integrating with merchant systems rather than replacing them. That distinction matters, because it would determine how much control Google has over the purchase flow, payment handling and customer data.
Amazon is visible in the same search results, but without the same purchase button, according to TechCrunch’s account of the test. That gives Flipkart a clear advantage inside the current trial, even though the feature is not yet broadly available. Asked about the experiment, Google said it regularly tests new functions to help people discover and connect with businesses. Flipkart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If the broader rollout does arrive later in October, it would mark another step in Google’s effort to turn its AI interfaces into direct retail channels rather than simple discovery tools.
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