"In a now viral post on X viewed nearly 400,000 times, Lindsay Owens on Sunday wrote, "Big/bad news for consumers. Google is out today with an announcement of how they plan to integrate shopping into their AI offerings including search and Gemini. The plan includes 'personalized upselling.' I.e. Analyzing your chat data and using it to overcharge you.""
""These claims around pricing are inaccurate. We strictly prohibit merchants from showing prices on Google that are higher than what is reflected on their site, period. 1/ The term \"upselling\" is not about overcharging. It's a standard way for retailers to show additional premium product options that people might be interested in. The choice is always with the user on what to buy. 2/ \"Direct Offers\" is a pilot that enables merchants to offer a *lower* priced deal or add extra services like free shipping - it cannot be used to raise prices.""
"Owens is executive director of the consumer economics think tank Groundwork Collaborative. Her concern stems from looking at Google's roadmap, as well as delving into some of its detailed specification docs. The roadmap includes a feature that will support "upselling," which could help merchants promote more expensive items to AI shopping agents."
Google announced the Universal Commerce Protocol to integrate shopping into AI across search and Gemini. The protocol roadmap includes an "upselling" feature designed to surface premium product options to AI shopping agents and mentions adjustments for pricing programs like new-member discounts and loyalty pricing. A consumer economics watchdog warned that personalized upselling could analyze chat data and potentially lead to consumers being overcharged. Google rejected those claims, stating merchants cannot show higher prices on Google than on their sites, that upselling displays optional premium items, and that Direct Offers can only lower prices or add services.
Read at TechCrunch
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