Loblaw, Google Partner to Offer Canadians Conversational AI Shopping
Loblaw Companies Ltd. is partnering with Google to give Canadian shoppers the option to buy health, beauty and apparel products directly through conversational AI.
The retailer — whose banners include Loblaws supermarkets, Real Canadian Superstore and Shoppers Drug Mart — is the first large merchant in Canada to make products available for direct purchase through Google Search's AI Mode and Google's Gemini app.
This kind of commerce is powered by Google's conversational AI platforms and the emerging Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), the latter being an open, standardized way for different commerce systems and AI agents to cross-communicate. UCP helps facilitate safe and secure shopping, booking and payments across different channels.
Loblaw is also scaling its use of Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform as part of this collaboration. Loblaw already has leveraged Google Cloud across many of its core retail functions, from merchandising to supply chain to the store floor. This scaling will continue to propel Loblaw's evolution into an AI-native enterprise.
"We see agentic commerce as a natural evolution of how our customers want to shop. By empowering our colleagues and making shopping simpler and more personalized for customers, we are solidifying our position as a true pioneer in Canadian AI innovation," Lauren Steinberg, chief digital officer, Loblaw, said in a media release.
