Gemini Adds a "Buy" Button to Flipkart Products in India, but Not to the Amazon Listings on the Same Page, and Google Owns a Stake in Flipkart

TechCrunch reported on September 26 that Google is testing a feature with some users in India: in Gemini and Search's AI Mode, a "Buy" button appears on select Flipkart product listings and takes users straight into Flipkart's checkout flow without leaving the AI interface. The test is limited to a small number of users and a small selection of products, including smartphones, electronics and mobile accessories; other users still see ordinary Flipkart listings. In the interface TechCrunch tested, Amazon listings appeared alongside Flipkart's products but had no direct purchase button. Unlike the Google-hosted checkout Google showed with its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) in January, this test brings up a Flipkart-branded checkout flow, and it is not clear what technology powers it. A person familiar with the matter said Google plans a broader rollout later in October, ahead of India's festive shopping season, but Google has not confirmed the timing; a spokesperson said only that the company is "always testing new features and experiences to help people discover and connect with businesses more easily," and Flipkart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this month, Google named Flipkart among its merchant partners for "agentic" shopping in India. Flipkart is controlled by Walmart, and Google invested about $350 million in it in 2024 as part of a Walmart-led funding round, taking a minority stake.

AI shopping moves from "help me find" to "let me buy"

Over the past year, Gemini and AI Mode have mostly recommended in shopping: you describe what you need, it lists products, and clicking through sends you to the merchant's site. This test pulls the last step inside: **you place the order in the conversation instead of leaving it.** That step matters because whoever sits behind the "Buy" button gets the shortest path to a sale in AI shopping. A recommendation slot can list ten merchants side by side; a checkout button attaches to only a few.

On the same page, only one can be bought directly

In the interface TechCrunch tested, Amazon's products appeared alongside Flipkart's, but only Flipkart's had a buy button. There can be an ordinary explanation: a test needs partners to integrate, Flipkart was just named this month as one of Google's agentic shopping partners in India, and Amazon may simply not have integrated yet, or may not plan to. **But another fact is just as true: Google invested about $350 million in Flipkart in 2024 and holds a minority stake.** When an AI assistant's checkout entry opens first for a retailer the platform owns a piece of, timed right before India's most important shopping season of the year, the arrangement deserves to be stated plainly, even if it turns out to be only a matter of integration order. Google's only public statement so far is that it is "always testing new features"; it has not explained how test partners were chosen or confirmed a launch date.

The checkout is Flipkart's, not Google's

Another detail is who owns the checkout. When Google launched the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) in January, it demonstrated a Google-hosted checkout: shoppers pay with Google Pay and information saved in Google Wallet, while the retailer remains the seller of record. This test instead brings up a Flipkart-branded checkout flow. UCP does offer an embedded option that lets merchants keep a customized checkout, but TechCrunch explicitly says **it is not clear what technology powers this test**, so it cannot be assumed to be a UCP integration. For merchants the difference is practical: keeping checkout in their own interface means payment, loyalty and after-sales data stay in their hands.

What this means for readers

For e-commerce and AI shopping-assistant teams, Google's checkout arrangements are not uniform across markets: a Google-hosted checkout in the US and some other markets, a merchant-branded flow in this Indian test. Before integrating, it's worth confirming which one you are getting and where user and order data end up. For ordinary users, when an AI interface lets you "buy in one tap" from one merchant, it's worth checking whether other merchants in the same results have the same entry point; having a button or not is itself a form of ranking. Limits of what is known: the broader rollout timing comes from an unnamed source and has not been confirmed by Google; Flipkart has not responded to a request for comment.

via: TechCrunch, Google's official blog on the Universal Commerce Protocol, Google Developers Blog technical overview of UCP