Google Cloud unveiled what it has dubbed “Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience (CX),” an agentic AI platform designed to bring shopping and customer service together on a single intelligent interface for retailers and restaurants.
After a period when retailers announced deals to connect with OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool, Gemini Enterprise for CX introduces new prebuilt and configurable agents developed using Google’s latest Gemini models, which can be deployed in days, Google indicated. With Gemini Enterprise for CX, businesses can manage agents across the customer lifecycle from initial product discovery to post-purchase resolution.
Google described Gemini Enterprise for CX as a proactive digital concierge that connects the shopping process. It allows businesses to deploy agents that use complex reasoning to understand intent and execute multi-step tasks on a consumer’s behalf, taking into account preferences and consent, according to Google. From an agent cross-referencing a kitchen’s electrical specs to source a compatible induction range to an agent resolving a fulfillment error and issuing a real-time refund, the solution maintains continuous context across every touchpoint to support a consistent interaction with shoppers.
“With Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, we are combining the best of Google Cloud’s AI and infrastructure with a business’s own institutional intelligence to power a truly agentic commerce journey,” said Darshan Kantak, Google Cloud vice president, applied AI. “By bridging the gap between sales and service, businesses can deliver premium, personalized experiences from initial discovery to post-purchase support, driving the customer delight that scales long-term loyalty and value.”
Gemini Enterprise for CX provides a shopping agent affording an end-to-end solution, connecting front-end interfaces such as chat and voice directly to back-end tools. It can handle complex requests in ways established chatbots can’t by addressing specific needs based on an individual shopper’s consent and parameters, offering options that can take into account past shopping history from local stores and real-time product availability. Upon consent, Gemini Enterprise for CX can add items to consumer carts and handle checkout. To improve convenience, it is able to understand image, video and voice inputs so shoppers don’t have to go through the process of typing requests.
Google Cloud also is introducing Customer Experience Agent Studio, which enables businesses to build, test and deploy personalized multimodal support agents at scale. Customer Experience Agent Studio connects directly with the shopping agent to ensure interactions are informed by historical context.
Businesses, including Kroger, Lowe’s and Woolworths Supermarket, are proceeding with agentic capabilities to deliver personalized experiences across the entire shopper journey, Google noted. Kroger, for example, is using Customer Experience Agent Studio to analyze interactions and intent on customer store calls made to proactively identify and resolve issues earlier, enhance associate productivity and deliver a better shopper experience.
Kroger stated it would use Gemini Enterprise for CX functions to combine cutting-edge technology with the care, food knowledge and understanding of shopper preferences. Kroger will roll out Gemini Enterprise for CX across the United States to make grocery planning easier through integrated meal and shopping assistants. As such, Kroger is working to offer consumers faster, more personalized shopping experiences.
Home Depot is expanding its strategic partnership with Google Cloud to further advance interconnected retail, the retailer said. Home Depot will give consumers access to new agentic AI tools delivering real-time informed assistance to homeowners and professional customers, including contractors, renovators and remodelers. Home Depot will give shoppers access to new capabilities in its Magic Apron assistant, AI-powered product list builders for pros and new tools to improve customer and store support. By deploying Google Cloud’s Gemini models and Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, the company is creating a native AI-first experience that is personalized, contextual and available anywhere.
“The Home Depot has always been about providing excellent customer service,” Jordan Broggi, the company’s executive vice president of customer experience and president of online. “By building on Google Cloud’s AI solutions, we’re putting ‘Orange Apron’ expertise in the pocket of every customer and creating an AI experience that is personalized, contextual and available wherever the customer is. whether that’s the home, the jobsite or in the aisles of our stores.”
Walmart is working with Google to leverage the assortment available across the retailer’s namesake and Sam’s Club’s operations, with accessibility directly through Gemini using the Universal Commerce Protocol. Gemini will automatically include Walmart and Sam’s Club in-store and online products when they’re relevant. If a customer asks for advice on camping equipment for the spring season, Gemini will return items from Walmart’s inventory. As people talk back-and-forth with Gemini, the interface will give Walmart more opportunities to reach consumers with relevant products and services throughout the conversation. Walmart can also recommend complementary items to consumers who link to it through Gemini based on past online and in-store purchases
“The transition from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail,” Walmart U.S. president and CEO John Furner said. “We aren’t just watching the shift, we are driving it. We want to help customers get what they need and want, when and where they want it. Partnering with Google to bring the Walmart experience directly into Gemini is another step toward creating seamless shopping experiences for customers and members that are more intuitive and personal than ever before.”
