Gap partners with Google Gemini to offer AI platform checkout
Openness is partnering with Google’s Gemini will allow shoppers to pay directly from the AI platform, making it the first major fashion company to work directly with the tech company to support agency commerce, CNBC has learned exclusively.
The partnership comes as more and more shoppers are moving away from traditional search and turning to AI platforms for product discovery, forcing retailers to rethink their marketing approaches to ensure they remain competitive and don’t miss out on customer demand.
“This isn’t just keyword search anymore, right? These are conversations, and so we need to be relevant to that,” Sven Gerjets, Gap’s chief technology officer, told CNBC in an interview. “You know, ‘I’m trying to figure out what to do for a wedding, what are the things I should be looking for?’ Or ‘I have a job interview, are there any styles I should wear?’ All these things we need to become relevant.”
When shoppers are looking for a new pair of jeans or the perfect oversized hoodie on Gemini and the platform thinks some of Gap’s products might be a good fit for them, customers will be able to purchase products from Gap’s house of brands directly within the platform, without being redirected to the brand’s website.
The product-related information shown to shoppers won’t be crawled from Gap’s website, but will be details the retailer has previously provided to Gemini so they can check accuracy, continue collecting customer data and gain better control over the customer experience.
If the customer decides to purchase the product, they will pay via Google Pay and Gap will handle the shipping and other logistics.
Gerjets said Gap is still testing the service’s capabilities but expects to roll it out to customers “soon.”
Shoppers walk past a GAP fashion retail store on Oxford Street on October 30, 2025 in London, United Kingdom.
John Keeble | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Additionally, a new AI-powered sizing tool developed by Gap called Bold Metrics will help customers find the right size when shopping online and will soon be available to shoppers.
Gap’s partnership with Gemini and its gains in customer-focused AI tools give it a competitive advantage at a time when winning in specialty retail is harder than ever. The fashion market in general is becoming more fragmented and competitive.
As long as a retailer’s website has data that the AI platform can read, the company’s products will likely show up in chat results if the platform deems they match a shopper’s query, but there’s a lot of work retailers need to do to make sure those products are displayed properly.
For example, if a customer is searching for a sundress on an AI platform and a company offers a related product but the data cannot be read by an LLM, the brand may miss out on that discount.
Most major companies are using and applying AI in various ways, but so far none of Gap’s main rivals have announced similar partnerships with Gemini.
Gerjets said Gap’s approach to representative commerce is an initial iteration that is expected to evolve over time.
For now, customers won’t be able to link their loyalty accounts or spend points on the transaction, he said. This could create some friction for regular customers, but Gerjets said this option could be added later.
“We’re going to continue to improve the experience and highlight the things that customers want, so that’s definitely the roadmap and the future,” Gerjets said. “I think this is the first experience on a journey to really understand what agency business is for clients.”
Retail’s AI wars
Gap’s partnership with Gemini comes next It has made similar deals with companies like OpenAI Walmart And Etsy only to revert to plans to pay directly within the app.
While the number of people using AI platforms for product discovery is growing, this is still a small portion of total shoppers, and the number of customers who will feel comfortable paying directly at LLMs remains unclear.
Some shoppers may be hesitant to put their credit card information on the platform, while others may prefer to shop directly from a retailer’s app, where store credit cards and loyalty points are stored.
Given how long shoppers have been interacting with Google and the fact that customer payment information is already stored in its system, some shoppers may feel more comfortable using Gemini for payment compared to newer AI platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
In some ways, Gemini’s platform is also more advanced. Google recently launched Thanks to new updates, real-time product data is provided to users and difficulties such as out-of-stocks and pricing errors are prevented. Shoppers will also be able to add multiple items to their carts and, in some cases, link their loyalty memberships; Two features that OpenAI hasn’t yet fully figured out.
OpenAI and Gemini also have two different protocols for broker trading, Gerjets said. Gerjets said Gap’s “Universal Trade Protocol” used in Gemini is designed for merchants to have better control over the overall shopping experience, while OpenAI’s “Agent Trade Protocol” is designed more for discovery.
“This field is moving so fast… We’re all evolving and learning together; who knows what the field will look like in five years, who the winner will be, or how fragmented the field will be?” Gerjets said. “It’s important for us to work with all of them, because we really want to meet our customers where they want to be.”
