Google’s Big AI Shift: Are Your Product Feeds Ready?

Google has rolled out one of the biggest shifts in holiday shopping: AI-led discovery and agentic checkout powered by the Shopping Graph, which contains over 50 billion product listings updated with 2 billion entries hourly.

This update changes how customers find, compare, and purchase products, with AI Mode shoppers asking questions 23 times longer than traditional searches.

Here’s what matters for Shopify founders, performance marketers, and DTC operators👇

1. AI Mode Is the New Front Page of Google

Shoppers now describe what they want in natural language:
“Black running shoes under ₹3,000 with good cushioning.”

Google returns curated product cards instead of traditional search results.

What marketers should do now:

• Add natural-language phrases in product descriptions

• Include lifestyle attributes (“for winter travel”, “for long walks”)

• Improve product photography
  Insight: AI discovery prioritizes structured product data more than SEO.

2. Gemini Shopping Is Becoming a New Organic Channel

Gemini is evolving into a shopping assistant that recommends products in conversation. This creates a new “organic placement” opportunity.

What Shopify brands should do now:

• Sync Google Merchant Center properly

• Fix feed issues and missing attributes

• Strengthen reviews, UGC, and trust signals
  Insight: If your feed is incomplete, AI will not recommend your products.

3. Local Inventory AI Calls Can Drive New Footfall

Google’s AI now calls nearby stores to check stock and sends shoppers an automated summary.

What store owners should do now:

• Keep local inventory live and real-time

• Activate Google Local Inventory Ads

• Ensure your store hours and info are accurate
  Insight: Strong omnichannel data increases your chances of being recommended locally.

4. Agentic Checkout Will Trigger Auto-Purchases on Price Drops

Shoppers can set their filters and target price. When the price hits, Google can automatically complete the purchase via Google Pay.

What marketers should do now:

• Use structured discounts (percentage or flat)

• Plan smaller, more frequent price drops

• Ensure variant-level pricing accuracy
  Insight: AI-triggered purchases reward brands with clean pricing and reliable feeds.

Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Learn more.

5. Performance Marketing Will Shift

As AI becomes the starting point for discovery, search and ad-driven traffic may decline for certain categories. Product data quality will become a major growth lever.

What performance marketers should do now:

• Improve product feed quality

• Strengthen conversion rates

• Collect more first-party data (email, SMS, loyalty)

• Build stronger brand positioning
  Insight: AI will influence discovery, but brand identity still drives demand.

6. Emerging Growth Opportunities

These are actionable advantages for early adopters:

AI-Optimized Bundles
Create bundles aligned with natural-language queries such as gifting sets, travel kits, fitness starters.

Conversational Landing Pages
Write copy in a natural, conversational tone that aligns with how users speak to AI.

Smarter Product Detail Pages
Add sections like “Best for”, “Use cases”, and “Recommended if you need” to help AI classify products accurately.

• Klaviyo AI: Predictive AI for personalized email and SMS marketing automation.

• Tidio Lyro: Conversational AI chatbot that solves customer queries instantly.

• Eleven Labs: Generate AI voices for content and storytelling

• Jasper: AI co-pilot for creating on-brand marketing content fast.

• Perplexity: Real-time AI search engine for rapid market research.