AutoZone, Home Depot, Macy’s, Ulta enter Google Agentic AI partnerships
Four major retailers are all teaming with Google to launch agentic artificial intelligence services and solutions.
Auto Zone, The Home Depot, Macy’s and Ulta Beauty all announced new agentic AI collaborations with Google at the Google Cloud Next 2026 conference in Las Vegas. Following are highlights of each new initiative:
AutoZone
AutoZone Inc. recently completed a full-stack migration to Google Cloud that enabled to auto parts retailer to exit legacy data centers in less than three years. The automotive replacement parts and accessories retailer transitioned most of its applications to Google Cloud with the goal of enhancing performance, observability, and long-term flexibility.
"Completing our cloud migration is a significant milestone, and our partnership with Google has been instrumental to this success. But it's not the finish line," said Michelle Borninkhof, senior VP and CIO, AutoZone. "We are now looking to leverage Google AI Cloud to help us enhance system monitoring, accelerate development, and enable faster decision making. In addition, we are in the early stages of using Gemini Enterprise to automate high volume tasks and improve productivity."
The Home Depot
The Home Depot is debuting new AI-powered phone agents built on Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience platform. Now, when calling a Home Depot store, customers can state the reason for their call in their own words.
The new system is designed to immediately understand what they need help with while ensuring they always have the option to speak directly with a human associate. Real-time translations also enable support for customers in any language.
According to Home Depot, early results from a 50-store pilot show that AI voice agents understand why a customer is calling in fewer than 10 seconds, four times faster than navigating traditional phone menus. In addition, Home Depot associates in the pilot also reported higher job satisfaction and having more time to focus on in-store shoppers.
The AI voice agents are trained on Home Depot's product catalog and enabled to resolve common customer inquiries from start to finish, such as checking an order status, confirming product availability, or providing store information.
AI agents can also take actions such as initiating service requests, sending a product link directly to a customer's pre-filled cart, and helping customers complete a purchase from their phones. After customers describe their projects in their own words, the AI voice agent will start building a digital shopping cart with all the necessary items based on real-time online or in-store inventory.
"Nobody likes getting trapped in a phone menu. When a customer calls us, they just want to get help as quickly as possible," said Jordan Broggi, executive VP of customer experience and president of online at Home Depot. "Using customer service AI voice agents, we're moving away from 'Please listen to these options' and toward 'how can I help?' AI does a tremendous job at recognizing customer intent and taking direct action to help complete a purchase or even start a service request. And of course, if they need to speak with an associate, we'll quickly connect them."
The Home Depot plans to expand the AI customer service voice agent system to support all U.S. stores over the coming year.
Macy’s
Macy’s Inc. officially launched a shopping chatbot known as “Ask Macy’s,” based on Google Gemini, in March 2026 following a December 2025 pilot. However, the retailer officially introduced the solution at Google Next 2026.
[READ MORE: Macy’s unveils Google Gemini-based AI shopping assistant]
Ask Macy’s is designed for shoppers to converse and interact with as they would with a human retail associate. It is accessible via the Macy’s e-commerce site and app. It is a multimodal agent, capable of handling text and images, and it also has a virtual try-on feature. If the customer uploads a photo, Ask Macy’s can show them how what they’re thinking of buying will look on them – and it can even provide different backgrounds
The solution also incorporates data from customer feedback and the product catalog, and in the near future it will be able to warn customers if products run large or small and recommend a more appropriate size to purchase. It can also recommend related items that go well with what is in a shopper’s cart if they’re interested.
“We wanted to show how technology can remove friction and elevate retail shopping for our customers, to help them feel guided, understood, and confident,” said Chad Westfall, senior VP of technology product development and customer experience, Macy’s. “We’re bringing the concept of hospitality to online customers at scale.”
Ulta Beauty
Ulta Beauty is launching two new Gemini-enabled solutions. The beauty giant is rolling out agentic commerce within AI mode in Google search and the Gemini app over the next month. Shoppers will be able to receive Ulta Beauty product recommendations, compare options and complete streamlined checkout for eligible purchases directly within Google's conversational agentic interfaces.
"Ulta Beauty has always been about inspiring guests' discovery through trusted expertise and curated choice," said Lauren Brindley, chief merchandising and digital officer, Ulta Beauty. "Now, we're extending that same strength into AI-powered shopping experiences, making beauty discovery more seamless, personalized and shoppable wherever it happens."
Ulta Beauty has been an early collaborator with Google in developing the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard for agentic AI-based commerce intended to cover the entire shopping journey from discovery and buying to post-purchase support.
On its own digital properties — available now on Ulta.com and rolling out soon to the Ulta beauty app — the retailer is launching Ulta AI, a new AI shopping assistant built on Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience.
Ulta AI provides more personalized guidance to guests as they shop and is designed to complements the in-store assistance of Ulta Beauty associates.
