Google continues to evolve the online shopping journey—and with the unveiling of its latest AI-powered Shopping updates at the 2025 I/O Keynote, the pace of innovation has accelerated. These updates build on last year’s enhancements and push even further into the world of personalized, immersive, and intelligent commerce.
Here’s what’s new—and how to adapt your marketing strategies.
Shopping Features Unveiled at Google I/O 2025
AI Mode in Search (Launched May 2025)
Search is no longer just keyword-driven. With AI Mode, users can engage in dynamic, conversational shopping queries, with Google handling complex, multi-part questions and surfacing visual product panels in real time. This means your product feed must support context-rich responses.
2. Enhanced Virtual Try-On (Rolling Out Late May 2025)
Users can now upload personal photos to virtually try on clothing, not just rely on preset models. Your apparel listings must meet strict image criteria (high-res, front-facing models, minimal obstruction) to qualify.
3. Agentic Checkout (Rolling Out Soon)
This AI-powered checkout system helps users complete purchases automatically when desired price points or inventory are met. Participating in “Buy on Google” or Google Merchant Checkout will become a competitive advantage.
4. Gemini AI Integration
Google’s Gemini model is now at the heart of shopping experiences, interpreting intent, summarizing options, and automating shopping flows. That means your product data must be complete, natural-language-friendly, and machine-readable.
What’s still relevant from 2024 updates
Google’s original 2024 AI Shopping updates laid the groundwork for these upgrades. These core elements remain critical and were “new” not too long ago:
- AI-Driven Product Discovery: Personalized recommendations still require optimized product titles, descriptions, attributes, and imagery.
- AR Try-Ons: The foundation of virtual product engagement for fashion and beauty categories.
- Personalized Shopping Feeds: Users continue to receive tailored feeds based on behavior and interests.
- Price Comparison and Transparency: Now surfaced even earlier in the funnel via Gemini responses and AI Mode.
- AI-Generated Product Briefs: Rich content helps AI explain your product faster and more persuasively.
What to know going forward
- These new shopping experiences are being rolled out to the U.S. over the coming months and will continue to expand to more users as time goes on.
- As they continue to gain momentum, there will be a need to adjust marketing strategies accordingly. It’s an opportunity for advertisers to optimize their campaigns and remain competitive in an evolving marketplace.
- Intrepid is available to assist you in navigating these changes and ensuring your product data aligns with the new standards. Read on for specific strategies we recommend.
6 key strategies to stay competitive in 2025
Enrich Your Product Feed for AI Understanding
To stay visible in an AI-powered environment, your product feed must go beyond standard optimization. This includes using natural-language descriptions that reflect how consumers actually search, embedding relevant use-case context (like “ideal for summer weddings”), and incorporating rich schema markup to help Google’s algorithms better understand your products and reviews.
Qualify for Virtual Try-On
To appear in Google’s upgraded Virtual Try-On experience, your product images must meet specific technical standards. This includes providing high-resolution images (at least 1024 pixels), featuring a single, unobstructed, front-facing garment, and avoiding accessories or hand placements that cover key product details.
Adapt for AI-Driven Search
To align with Gemini’s understanding of user intent, your feed should be detailed and structured. Include a variety of attributes, variant-level details such as size, color, and fit, and make sure your product types are clearly defined and categorized so that AI can accurately match them to complex user queries.
Use Product Reviews Strategically
High-quality reviews help Gemini summarize and prioritize your listings.
Support Agentic Checkout
Participate in “Buy on Google” or enable flexible checkout options within Merchant Center to future-proof against upcoming automation.
Dynamic Remarketing and Product Recommendation Ads
Capitalize on behavior-driven ad formats powered by Google’s AI. Use dynamic remarketing to stay top-of-mind and align with new Gemini-powered product carousels.
Ready to Compete in AI Shopping?
This is more than a design change—it’s a shift in how Google understands and surfaces products. Intrepid Digital can help ensure your feed, creative, and strategy are aligned with Google’s AI-first approach.
Want help optimizing for this shopping experience? Contact us.
Find out more about Intrepid Digital’s E-Commerce capabilities and our Performance Marketing services.
See below an example of the “Try-on” experience, where users can view garments on AI-generated models. Soon, you’ll be able to upload their own photo for a hyper-personalized preview.
