Good morning. This was the week checkout moved into the AI. Google started switching on buying inside AI Mode for eligible US Shopify stores, by default, and Shopify let AI agents complete its checkout. If you sell on Shopify in the US, some holiday orders may never touch your website or your analytics.
In today’s brief:
- AI agents can now finish the sale
- Amazon wants to run your Shopify orders too
- YouTube’s AI now compares products for shoppers
- Try this: walk your checkout like an AI agent
The number: Adobe expects clicks from AI services to US retail sites to rise 130% year on year this holiday season (1 November to 31 December). It's a forecast, and Adobe doesn't say what share of all visits AI makes up. Source: Adobe.
Checkout · lead story
AI agents can now finish the sale
Image source: Shopify, “Google AI Mode: Buyer Experience” video in its Help Center.
The brief: Google began switching on checkout inside AI Mode and Gemini for eligible US Shopify stores and emailed merchants about it on 22 September (reported). On 28 September, Shopify let AI agents in a shopper’s browser fill in its checkout and place the order once the shopper confirms.
The details:
- In Google, shoppers click Buy and pay without visiting your site. It’s on by default for US stores selling to US shoppers, still rolling out, and costs nothing beyond payment processing.
- Google Analytics and custom pixels don’t fire there; only Shopify’s server-side events do. Subscriptions, bundles, local delivery and pickup aren’t supported, and upsell, loyalty and consent blocks may not show.
- Shopify’s agent tools need no setup and hand security checks such as 3-D Secure back to the shopper. They don’t cover B2B, draft orders or the three-page checkout (unless the shopper uses Shop Pay), and they run on WebMCP, a proposed standard only Chromium browsers support for now.
Why it matters for your store: AI assistants used to send shoppers to your site to buy. Now the sale can close inside Google or be completed by an agent on your own checkout, and the extras you built into checkout, along with your usual analytics, may be skipped.
Your move · ACT (US Shopify stores): Open Sales channels › Agentic › Google AI Mode and Gemini and decide whether Direct checkout stays on. If it does, track those orders in the Agentic section's per-channel report, not in Google Analytics.
Evidence: Shopify Help Center and developer docs; Google's merchant email as reported by Search Engine Roundtable and PPC Land. Google hasn't announced the change itself. Not tested by AC Brief.
Store ops
Amazon wants to run your Shopify orders too
Image source: Amazon, original announcement.
The brief: At its Accelerate event on 23–24 September, Amazon began rolling out tools to manage Shopify, eBay, TikTok and Walmart orders and listings from Seller Central (US sellers, gradually, at no extra cost). US merchants who use its fulfilment can now add Prime delivery to their own site through a Shopify app, and Seller Assistant, Amazon’s AI helper, can run standing tasks that it checks with you before acting.
Why it matters for your store: Amazon is pitching itself as the back office for sellers who also run their own store. That’s convenient if Amazon already holds your stock, but it puts your orders, listings and delivery promise with one company, the same one that blocks outside shopping agents from its own site. Amazon says data from your other channels won’t inform its own retail decisions.
Your move · TEST (US sellers already using Amazon fulfilment): Add Prime delivery to one best seller for 30 days and compare its conversion with a similar product. Everyone else: WATCH, and read the data terms before you connect Shopify.
Evidence: Amazon announcements, 23–24 September. Not tested by AC Brief.
Creators
YouTube’s AI now compares products for shoppers
Image source: YouTube, original announcement.
The brief: On 23 September, YouTube gave its AI assistant, Ask YouTube, shopping features: search for reviews of a product and it can return grouped videos with a comparison table, then answer follow-up questions. YouTube didn’t say where or when. New affiliate campaigns also let brands offer creators exclusive commissions or bonuses, and the affiliate program reaches 35 countries by year end.
Why it matters for your store: YouTube’s assistant answers from creator reviews, not from your product page. If nobody has reviewed your product on YouTube, you’re missing from that shelf.
Your move · TEST: Pick one hero product for Q4. If you're in the YouTube Shopping affiliate program, raise its commission in Merchant Center (Marketing › YouTube affiliate › Commissions) and brief two or three creators on what shoppers compare.
Evidence: YouTube announcements and Merchant Center Help. Not tested by AC Brief.
Shelf watch
Where AI shopping stands this week
- Google AI Mode · CHANGED: checkout on by default for eligible US Shopify stores, still rolling out. Google is also testing a Flipkart Buy button in India (reported).
- ChatGPT · CHANGED: ads in more than 60 countries after adding seven Asian markets on 23 September. The Shopify ads app is still US-only, and products uploaded for ads don’t appear in normal answers.
- Meta AI · ANNOUNCED: Muse is adding Walmart, Best Buy, Sephora, Wayfair and six more retailers, plus Shop Pay and PayPal, with no dates yet.
- Amazon · BLOCKED: blocking Meta’s Muse agent since 20 September (reported).
- Copilot · STEADY: Copilot Checkout for US shoppers.
Try this · 10 minutes
Walk your checkout like an AI agent
- In Shopify, go to Settings › Checkout, click Edit, then the gear icon. Under Checkout layout, check you’re on one-page checkout: browser agents can only complete the three-page version when the shopper uses Shop Pay.
- In the same editor, list your app blocks: upsells, loyalty, custom fields, consent boxes. Google’s checkout may not show them, and one that blocks checkout makes a browser agent hand back to the shopper. Remove what you don’t need.
- Check your top five products. Subscriptions, bundles and customizable products can’t be bought in Google’s checkout.
- In Sales channels › Agentic, turn off Allow Shopify to manage for me, open Google AI Mode and Gemini, set Direct checkout and save. Note what you chose and why.
Not on Shopify? Paste this into an AI assistant that can browse the web:
Prompt: Go to [product page URL] and add [variant] to the cart. Check out as a guest up to the payment step, then stop. Don't enter any payment details. List every step where you needed me, anything that slowed you down, and any delivery or returns detail you couldn't find.
Tool radar
Three tools, three verdicts
- USE · Search Console’s generative AI report: free, and Google says it reached all sites worldwide on 31 August. It shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country and device. No clicks.
- TEST · OtterlyAI Lite ($29 a month): tracks 15 prompts in ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot; AI Mode and Gemini cost extra. Try one month with real buyer questions and treat the results as a clue, not a score.
- SKIP · Paid “make my Shopify store agent-ready” add-ons: Shopify already gives every Liquid store agent tools for the storefront, cart and checkout, free, with nothing to install.
Quick hits
Everything else
- Meta launched Muse for Small Business in the US and Canada. It connects to Shopify, Klaviyo, Stripe and your Meta ad accounts, and Meta says nothing publishes, sends or spends without your approval. Meta’s announcement.
- Walmart’s CEO pledged not to use what shoppers tell its Sparky assistant to raise prices or hide cheaper options. Read the letter.
- Mastercard found that people who pay for AI subscriptions spread their spending across more merchants, including smaller boutiques. It’s a pattern in its card data, not proof that AI caused it. Mastercard’s forecast.
Before you go
Did you find Google’s checkout switched on in your store, and are you keeping it? Reply with what you decided and why. The most useful answers go into next week’s brief, anonymously.
New here? Score your store with our free AI Shelf Checklist. Know someone who runs an online store? Forward them this email. They can subscribe free at acbrief.com.
— Said