Google deepens AI investments that impact retail

It might have been early on a Sunday morning, but Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, wasn’t about to let anyone sleep on AI.

In a keynote session at NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, Pichai spoke about how AI can help retail, and then shared the stage with John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., and incoming Walmart Inc. president and CEO, for a fireside chat that included a discussion of drone delivery.

Pichai set the table for the breaking news, discussing the “really dynamic moment” that artificial intelligence offers. Retail will not be immune from its impact. Just as retail shifted to the web and then mobile, AI is poised to be equally transformative, Pichai said.

Google has invested in the “full stack” of AI, from technical infrastructure to world-class research and products. Pichai anticipates intelligence will only increase, driving personalized context and more productive agents to handle tasks.

“When we do get this right, shoppers will be able to find exactly what they’re looking for, get inspired by new ideas and transact more easily than ever before,” he said.

He touted the partnership between Google and retail as a key to success. Customers can search on Google surfaces as part of a “seamless shopping experience” while allowing retailers to stay the "merchant of record" and maintain strong relationships with customers that “long outlast any single search or purchase.”

Artificial intelligence is a key to that bridge, whether the shopper is in discovery phase or decision mode. Google search currently has more than 50 billion product listings, updated with inventory, pricing and reviews. Some 2 billion of those listings are refreshed every hour, and AI is shifting search from keywords to natural conversations, he said.

“Now, you can type in exactly what you’re looking for, including really specific details and quirks. And AI can do the hard work, narrowing it down to what you’re most interested in buying.”

AI can not only help shoppers discover new items but decide between them. Pichai noted (and identified as) a “reluctant shopper” who is “looking forward to a day when agents can help me get from discovery to purchase.”

Pichai announced the launch of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), designed for agentic ecommerce. Retailers like Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart were involved in the creation, he said.

“You might wonder why we are introducing another protocol. It’s important that the industry needs a protocol that works at global scale and takes into account the nuances of commerce journeys, and there’s a critical building block for it.”

UCP will begin with native checkout, with a buy button directly on Google search, AI mode and Gemini. “It’s a more seamless experience for the customer and the retailer.”

AI tools for customer experience are in preview mode and integrate with UCP.

The last leg of the stool is delivery, an expensive area “ripe for 10x thinking,” he said. “Just the kind of hard problem we love to solve. And that’s what one of our Alphabet companies Wing is focused on.”

Wing already partners with Walmart, which announced an expansion of 150 new sites; that brings drone delivery to 270 sites coast to coast. When the expansion is complete, more than 40 million Americans will have access to the convenience of drone delivery.

It’s only natural that Walmart, known for its own technology innovations, is deeply partnered with Google and its parent Alphabet. Pichai and Furner said the partnership is only growing, bringing Walmart and Sam’s Club experiences into Gemini, “not just meeting people where they are, but in helping anticipate, where they live,” Furner said.

“And then Gemini will automatically include our assortment, our prices, help customers understand what’s available, and then pairing the intelligence of Gemini with our catalog or assortment, the experience, possibilities, the pricing,” he said.

“It’s just going to be great for fulfillment for customers.”