Nike Expands Consumer Reach With Google Agentic Commerce Investment
Athletic shoe and apparel manufacturer Nike is expanding into the emerging channel of agentic commerce, making its products discoverable and purchasable directly on the Gemini app and AI mode in Google search.
The experience, which launches this June ahead of football season, aims to help consumers move more quickly from product discovery to checkout directly within conversations with AI agents.
Also: Nike leadership consolidates: CTO Out; tech oversight moved to new COO
The investment is enabled by Google's new AI commerce capability, which features universal commerce and multi-item checkout. Consumers will be able to purchase items using their stored payment information from Google Wallet.
“With this new AI-powered shopping experience, Nike is again elevating the marketplace and how consumers engage with sport — using technology to anticipate their needs and connect them to our brand in more intuitive, seamless ways,” Shannon Glass, VP of Nike Direct, said in a statement. “There’s no better time than the world’s biggest global football moment for us to show up with innovation that meets athletes when they’re inspired and when sport is at its peak.”
Preparing for Agentic Commerce
While there's been interest in the growing space of agentic commerce, there's still room for improvement. Just 23% of Gen X adults in the U.S. used ChatGPT in March to search for products, per Forrester.
Three consumer goods experts recently discussed the topic at CGT's Analytics Unite event. Here's what they had to say:
“To allow the AI agent to search, research and handle transactions, there are a lot of things that need to be built for individuals to feel comfortable with the agent doing the full input transaction." — Udit Mehrotra, Head, Product, Amazon Languages Experience, North America
“It’s not about adaptability; it’s more about uniformity. The brands that show their transparency, accuracy or the controllability of data are the brands that will stand out and win the attention of consumers.” — Sraavya Pathsamatla, Assistant Director, Database Marketing, Chicago Cubs
“I think we need to somehow simulate what happens in a Costco or Trader Joe’s aisle for the experience of discovery. We need to look at how data is flowing and experiment with how we can really replicate that in the digital world." — Vijay Veeraghattam, Director, Data Science and AI Innovation, Mars Snacking
