An important announcement offered by Google at the 2026 National Retail Federation (NRF) conference was Gemini Enterprise of Customer Experience (CX): a wholesome set of artificial intelligence aimed to simplify the business of buying items online.
The initiative, which was announced on Sunday in front of some retail executives in New York, is based on combining the customer support and product discovery into a single flow of application.
Core Features
The system includes developed Gemini models which have high intelligence to reason as well to capture the intent of the shopper in completing a complex task of matching kitchen appliances to specification or issue instantaneous refund at the same time attentive to the preferences and consent of the user.
Ready-to-use agents may be installed in a few days connecting product exploration with after sales support without being required to switch applications.
In the case of retailers, this forms a digital concierge that tailors each conversation, and therefore minimizes the friction in areas in which conventional chatbots falter.
Major Partnerships
Large retailers, such as Walmart, Kroger, Lowe, Papa John, and Woolworths, have already participated in the initiative and already launched pilot projects on the topic of personalized product suggestions and sales growth.
The Chief Digital Transformation Officer of Papa John, Kevin Vasconi said,
We’re working together to personalize every interaction, simplify every decision, and remove friction within customer touchpoints.
New CEO of Walmart, John Furner, further commented,
The goal is to deliver seamless, intuitive, and highly personalized shopping experiences.
Market Momentum
Retail artificial intelligence has risen this year and is estimated to reach 97.83 Bn by 2033 from 13.86 Bn of 2026, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 32.2%.
Empirical evidence shows that chatbots can enhance conversion rates by 23%.In addition, agentic AI like Gemini will be used to reflect 20% of all online interactions by 2028.
Future Outlook
Gemini puts Google in a better position to gain a share in the U.S. retail AI market estimated to be close to $300–500 billion by 2030, accounting for 15%–25% of total e-commerce, outpacing the competition by automating high-friction situations into revenue-generating processes.
Even though the concerns around data privacy will not go away, the built-in protection and policies which would ensure that the model does not train using proprietary data are future solutions that should help create trust.
Both retail and fine-tuning vs. mass-marketing expected to radically change the structure of retail into preference-driven proactive ecosystems and going up to inventory turnover and sales increases.
