Launch includes first-of-its-kind loyalty and discount extensions for Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), enabling AI agents to understand brand incentives
Talon.One, the leading incentives platform powering promotions and loyalty for 300 global enterprise brands, today announced the launch of its Unified Incentives Protocol (UIP), a new set of platform-agnostic standards designed to surface promotions and loyalty incentives across AI agent-based shopping experiences.
With agentic commerce expected to capture up to 20% of market share in the US alone by 2030, brands will need to ensure their incentives strategies are fully visible and intelligible to shopping agents. UIP addresses this need by communicating incentives such as loyalty programs, promotions, discounts and rewards to agents in a standardized, machine-readable format.
UIP is designed to help businesses succeed in agentic commerce by:
- Driving product and brand discoverability by surfacing incentives where AI agents search and compare
- Enabling new forms of engagement by treating agents as a core omnichannel touchpoint
- Delivering real value for both humans and their agents, without resorting to unsustainable price competition
Christoph Gerber, CEO of Talon.One, commented, "Agentic commerce represents a fundamental shift in how customers discover and choose brands. In this new reality, incentives will be a core part of how value is communicated to AI agents. With the Unified Incentives Protocol, we're giving businesses the standards they need to remain discoverable, differentiated and competitive in agent-based commerce.
"For example, imagine Gemini recommending Brand A over Brand B, not just on price or preference, but because the purchase would earn the shopper 200 loyalty points and unlock Gold tier status. Incentives become an integral part of the agent's decision-making logic, not an afterthought and brands avoid resorting to a race to the bottom."
Loyalty extensions for Google's Universal Commerce Protocol
Alongside the announcement, Talon.One has launched the first two building blocks of UIP: loyalty and discount extensions for Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), spanning all of Talon.One's loyalty and select discount features. The UCP extensions ensure that customers shopping via Gemini or other AI agents that adopt UCP can see and benefit from the complete loyalty experience a brand offers.
While the current scope of Google's UCP provides limited native support for loyalty programs, Talon.One's new extensions are already live and available to its customers. The extensions provide UCP-enabled agents with:
- Visibility into a customer's point balance and tier status
- Clear understanding of points earned or redeemed within a transaction
- Support for card-based loyalty programs, enabling loyalty use cases without identity linking
Talon.One is working on additional incentives extensions for other agentic platforms.
Laurens Van Wiele, CPO of Talon.One, commented: "As AI agents increasingly influence purchase decisions, businesses now have a unique opportunity to define how loyalty and long-term value are understood from the outset. That's why we're committed to enabling our customers to compete and differentiate in agent-based commerce."
"Our UCP loyalty and discount extensions are just the first step in making incentives truly agent-ready. Our ambition is to continue developing the UIP and ensure every Talon.One incentive, from loyalty to personalized promotions, can be fully understood and applied across all agentic channels."
To read more about Talon.One's Unified Incentives Protocol, visit the Talon.One website: https://www.talon.one/product/agentic-commerce
About Talon.One
Talon.One is the most powerful incentives engine that unifies loyalty, promotions and gamification into one holistic platform.
Backed by enterprise-grade security and scalability, Talon.One empowers companies to build personalized, profitable promotions and loyalty programs using any data. The world's most-loved brands including Adidas, Sephora and Carlsberg work with Talon.One to drive deeper engagement and lasting loyalty with their customers.
Founded in 2015, the company has a global reach with teams in Berlin, London, Boston and Singapore, and over 300 clients across North America, Europe and APAC. It was recognized in Gartner's 2023 Market Guide for Loyalty Program Vendors, and as a major player in IDC's 2024 MarketScape report for Loyalty Software Providers.
https://www.talon.one/
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