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Great to be at #NRF2026 yesterday in NYC! I shared some thoughts on how AI is going to transform every aspect of the shopping journey and how retail businesses are run. Incoming Walmart CEO John Furner joined me on stage to talk more about the opportunities for retailers ahead. What we’ve learned as a company from the last 27 years of working with retailers is that we only succeed together. Our goal is to build a future of retail where the opportunity space expands for everyone. That includes laying the groundwork for AI agents and systems to talk to each other across every step of the shopping journey. As a next step we introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), available starting today. It’s built to meet the needs of retailers and customers— from the moments of discovery to decision and beyond. It’s open, agnostic, built together with industry leaders Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart, and endorsed by 20+ more. There’s a lot that UCP will enable, and we are starting with native checkout. Soon you’ll see a buy button directly on Google surfaces including AI Mode in Search and Gemini. We also introduced a new Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience. Now in preview, this helps retailers build sophisticated agents for their own apps. That includes a shopping agent that provides personalized, proactive help, bringing the power of AI Mode right to a retailer’s app or website. Delivery is another important step that AI can help transform. Wing’s autonomous drone deliveries, in partnership with Walmart, have shown impressive expansion - and will be coming to another 150 stores, in addition to the 120 already announced. Starting in Houston on January 15, and will reach 40M people by the end of the expansion. A big year for AI in retail, and we’re excited for this next chapter of partnership.

