Google has begun testing a "Buy" button on Flipkart product listings inside its Gemini assistant and AI Mode, letting a limited group of users in India complete purchases without leaving the AI interface, according to people familiar with the matter and an experience seen by TechCrunch.
Google has begun testing a "Buy" button on Flipkart product listings inside its Gemini assistant and AI Mode, letting a limited group of users in India complete purchases without leaving the AI interface, according to people familiar with the matter and an experience seen by TechCrunch.
Users in the test see a "Buy" button on select Flipkart listings — mainly smartphones, electronics and mobile accessories — that opens a Flipkart-branded checkout flow when tapped, TechCrunch reported. Other users continue to see regular Flipkart listings without the purchase option.
Google plans to roll out the experience more broadly in October, ahead of India's festive shopping season, one of the people said. Earlier this month, Google said Flipkart was among the merchants partnering with it to bring "agentic" shopping experiences to consumers in India, but had not disclosed the test or its rollout timeline.
A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch the company is "always testing new features and experiences to help people discover and connect with businesses more easily," and that it regularly runs experiments with no further details to share.
The test comes as Google and rivals including OpenAI add commerce capabilities to their AI offerings, moving beyond answering shopping queries and recommending products to playing a more direct role in purchases. Google earlier this year introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard designed to let AI agents interact with retailers across the shopping journey, including checkout. Google has said UCP would allow shoppers to buy eligible products through Gemini and AI Mode using a Google-hosted checkout experience, and has since expanded the protocol to allow shoppers to transfer items to a retailer's site to complete a purchase.
The Flipkart test seen by TechCrunch appears distinct from that Google-hosted demonstration, bringing up a Flipkart-branded checkout flow instead. It is not clear what technology powers the test.
Google also has a financial relationship with Flipkart: it invested about $350 million in the e-commerce company in 2024 as part of a funding round led by Walmart, taking a minority stake.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- AI assistants are moving from recommending products to completing transactions, and this trial puts Google's Gemini directly in the purchase path.
- India's festive season is a peak online shopping period, making it a high-stakes test of whether users will buy through AI interfaces.
- The outcome could shape how much of the e-commerce journey search engines and AI platforms control, versus retailers like Flipkart and Walmart.
Background
AI assistants have been evolving from chat tools into "agents" capable of performing tasks, and commerce is one of the most contested applications. Google has spent the past year building the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard meant to let AI agents handle shopping end-to-end, and has been partnering with merchants in India on "agentic" shopping experiences. Flipkart, Walmart's Indian e-commerce arm, is a major player in the Indian market, and Google's minority investment in 2024 gives it a direct financial stake in the company's fortunes. The festive season — a period of heavy discounting and consumer spending — offers an early test of whether these experiments translate into real transactions.
Key Perspectives
Google: The company frames these efforts as helping people discover and connect with businesses more easily, and has emphasized open standards like UCP to give retailers flexibility in how AI-facilitated purchases are completed.
Flipkart: For Walmart-owned Flipkart, a direct "Buy" path inside Gemini could drive sales and keep the checkout experience under its own brand, though it also places the retailer's visibility partly in Google's hands.
Competing AI companies: OpenAI and others are adding shopping features of their own, signaling an industry-wide push to make AI assistants a commerce destination rather than just a referral source.
Critics/Skeptics: The trial is narrow — limited users, limited product categories — and the technology behind the Flipkart-branded checkout is undisclosed. Open questions remain about whether users will trust AI assistants with purchases, or whether habit and retailer apps will keep most shopping away from the AI interface.
What to Watch
- Whether Google indeed expands the test in October as reported, and how broadly the "Buy" button appears ahead of the festive season.
- Which product categories or additional merchants get added to the experience, and whether Flipkart remains the exclusive launch partner.
- Whether the transaction flow stays Flipkart-branded or eventually shifts to Google-hosted UCP checkout.
- How Amazon and other Indian e-commerce players respond to an AI-driven shopping push that could reshape how customers enter the sales funnel.