Google has switched on AI Mode checkout for eligible Shopify stores by default: since September 22, 2026, U.S. shoppers can buy products from those stores inside Google AI Mode and the Gemini app without visiting the store’s website. Merchants who would rather keep the sale on their own site have to turn the feature off themselves in the Shopify admin.

What changed

Google emailed Merchant Center users that their products “are now eligible for native checkout,” adding: “Your Shopify store was matched to your Merchant Center, enabling native checkout on Google AI Mode and Gemini” (Search Engine Roundtable). The checkout runs on the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), the open standard Google developed with partners including Shopify (Search Engine Land).

Shopify’s own help page confirms the default: direct checkout in Google AI Mode and Gemini is “activated by default for eligible stores” (Shopify Help Center). A store is eligible when it:

  • is based in the United States and sells to U.S. customers;
  • has a valid Google Merchant Center account with its products in it;
  • has products eligible for Shopify Catalog;
  • has accepted Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts terms and published terms of service, a privacy policy and a return and refund policy.

Shopify says there are no extra fees for selling through the channel beyond standard payment processing (Shopify Help Center).

What it means for shoppers

If you search for a product in AI Mode or ask Gemini to find one in the U.S., you may now see a checkout inside Google’s answer instead of a link to the store. You pay by credit or debit card in a Shopify-powered checkout, and the order goes to the merchant (Shopify Help Center). Shoppers outside the U.S. can still discover products but are sent to the store’s site to buy.

The seller is still the store, so its return and refund policy applies; Shopify requires one before a store can use the channel. Before you buy inside an AI answer, check the store name on the checkout screen and open its return policy. Our guide to refunds, chargebacks and liability when an AI purchase goes wrong covers what to do if the order is not what you expected.

What it means for small merchants

Eligible stores are now selling in Google’s AI surfaces unless they opt out. To turn it off in Shopify, go to Sales channels > Agentic > Google AI Mode and Gemini, switch “Direct checkout” off and save. Products stay discoverable, but shoppers are sent to your website to buy (Shopify Help Center).

Some store features do not carry over. Shopify lists custom pixels and Google Analytics tracking, subscription and bundle products, local delivery and pickup, and checkout blocks for custom fields, upsells and loyalty programs among the features direct checkout in AI channels does not support (Shopify Help Center). If your analytics rely on those, sales through AI Mode will look different in your reports. For the wider picture, see our guide to accepting payments from AI agents as a small business and our comparison of ACP and UCP.