Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Agentic Commerce and why should I care?
  Agentic Commerce is where AI agents discover, evaluate, and buy products on a consumer's behalf, often without the shopper ever visiting your website. It's powered by open standards like Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, with checkout also emerging in ChatGPT and Perplexity. If your store isn't set up for it, AI agents can't find you. Access is being rolled out to merchants with the right infrastructure first.
• What does the readiness audit include?
  We evaluate your product feeds, Google Ads structure, tracking setup, Merchant API readiness, and AI visibility using PDPIQ (55+ page-level factors across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and more) and FeedIQ (30+ feed attributes). You receive a readiness score, a detailed gap analysis, and a prioritized action plan.
• Do I need to migrate to the Merchant API?
  Yes, for Google. Agentic checkout requires capabilities not supported by the legacy Content API, which shuts down August 18, 2026. Migrating early also protects your existing Shopping ads and free listings.
• What happens if I miss the Content API deadline?
  If you haven’t migrated by August 18, 2026, your product feeds stop syncing with Google’s systems. That includes Shopping ads, free listings, and the upcoming agentic checkout infrastructure.
• Will I lose control of my customer data?
  No. You remain the Merchant of Record, keeping full control over your customer relationships and data. Agentic checkout is a new sales channel, not a handover of your business.
• How do I make my store ready?
  It depends on your current setup: feed quality, tracking infrastructure, API configuration, and how your product pages are structured for AI readability. The audit evaluates all of it using PDPIQ and FeedIQ, then gives you a prioritized roadmap of exactly what to fix and in what order.
• Can TRIBBUTE implement the fixes, or is this just an audit?
  Both. The audit tells you where you stand. If there are gaps, we handle the implementation: feed optimization, tracking setup, API migration, and ad-structure alignment. We’re a Google Premier Partner (top 3% in the country) with full-service capability across paid, organic, and digital commerce.
  
• What does Agentic Commerce mean for the shopper?
  The shopper opens an AI surface and types a request like "find me a blue winter jacket under $150." The agent contacts the merchant, creates a shopping session, adds the item, uses the shopper’s stored payment method, and confirms the order, all without leaving the conversation. No new tabs, no re-typing a card number, no account creation.
• Do I need Google Pay on my site?
  No. The flow is similar to Google Pay’s facilitated payment, but you don’t need a Google Pay button. Your existing PSP receives encrypted payment details, and most major PSPs already support the token format.
• Is this compatible with my existing tech stack?
  Generally yes. Google’s UCP is built on open standards and is compatible with AP2, A2A, and MCP, with native SDKs and adapters for common environments. Part of our audit is confirming exactly how your stack maps to each surface.