You Can Soon Buy From Flipkart Without Leaving Google's AI Chat
Google is testing a way to buy from Flipkart without leaving its AI chat tools, Gemini and AI Mode, in India. Some users now see a Buy button on certain Flipkart results in the chat. Tapping it opens Flipkart checkout steps inside the chat window. TechCrunch
The test is small for now. It is open to only some users and covers phones, electronics and phone accessories. Google plans to open it to more people later in October, before India's holiday shopping season.
Flipkart still handles the sale. The payment screen carries Flipkart's name and uses Flipkart's systems for price, payment and the order. That is different from an earlier idea Google showed where Google itself would handle payment.
The link is something called the Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP. Think of it as a common language that lets an AI assistant talk to a store about stock, carts and checkout. Google introduced it earlier in 2026 and said it will support checkout in AI Mode in Search and in the Gemini app. Google
Product suggestions pair Gemini with Google's Shopping Graph, its huge list of products for sale online. Google Flipkart is one of the stores working with Google on this kind of shopping by chat, often called "agentic" shopping because the assistant can take steps for you.
There is already a business tie. Google put about $350 million into Flipkart in 2024 in a funding round led by Walmart. Walmart has owned most of Flipkart since 2018, when it paid $16 billion for a 77% share. TechCrunch
The broader context here is who does what. Google handles the search and the chat. Flipkart handles payment, stock, discounts, fraud checks and returns.
In my view, that is a sensible tradeoff. It is easier to get stores to join if they keep control of payment, even if it is harder to keep details matched between two systems.
Looking ahead to October, the holiday season will be the real test. Prices and models change fast. What counts is simple: do orders go through, what happens when an item changes mid-chat, and do shoppers trust paying without opening another app.
