Wayfair Inc. (W) shares climbed on Tuesday after announcing a partnership with Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) designed to make AI-powered shopping less of a headache and more of an actual working system.

The collaboration aims to create smoother and more secure interactions between AI agents and retailer platforms, which sounds technical but really just means making it easier to buy stuff through AI assistants.

How It Actually Works

Wayfair is building out an experience that helps customers browse millions of home products across different categories, styles and price ranges without the usual friction. Soon, the Universal Commerce Protocol will power a new checkout experience for eligible Google product listings in AI Mode on Search and the Gemini app.

Here's the interesting part: customers can complete their purchases directly from Wayfair while browsing on Google. But Wayfair stays in control as the merchant of record, which means pricing, fulfillment and customer support all remain consistent with what you'd get shopping directly on Wayfair's site.

Fiona Tan, Wayfair's chief technology officer, explained the approach: "The Universal Commerce Protocol serves as the common language for this new ecosystem. It allows agents to bridge the gap between discovery and checkout, while ensuring we remain the merchant of record to guarantee the quality of the service."

Following the news, Wayfair shares gained 2.90% to reach $118.17.