KUALA LUMPUR (April 17): AEON360 and Google Cloud announced a multi-year collaboration to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven “continuous commerce” experience across AEON’s retail, finance and lifestyle ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

The companies said the initiative forms the cornerstone of AEON360’s broader agentic commerce roadmap with Google Cloud in the region. Its goal is to make customer interactions — from product discovery to delivery and post-purchase support — adapt to shoppers’ intent in real time.

AEON360 chairman Daisuke Maeda said the company’s ambition was to create an ecosystem that serves consumers as a cohesive and intelligent entity, allowing each engagement to feel tailored regardless of where customers begin their shopping journey.

The rollout would begin in Malaysia and later expand into other Southeast Asian markets where AEON operates, he said. Maeda added that the company would also use the collaboration to upskill staff through a new innovation foundry, while building a data foundation based on evolving customer preferences and consent.

The next phase of implementation will be led by AEON360 managing director Low Ngai Yuen and chief technology officer Glen Cha, focusing on translating the agreement into customer-facing services.

At the core of the initiative is what the companies described as a contextual intelligence engine designed to move beyond traditional personalisation, by understanding customers’ preferences and needs across their AEON journey.

For example, AEON360 said a shopper searching for family dinner ingredients in Kuala Lumpur would no longer need to repeatedly enter their identity or preferences across different AEON services. Instead, the system could use past grocery purchases and previous interactions to recommend products, member pricing and real-time stock availability on myAEON2go or at the nearest AEON MaxValu store.

The system is also expected to integrate financing and reward options such as instalment plans, cashback and AEON points throughout the shopping process.

To power the platform, AEON360 said it is using Google Cloud’s BigQuery data platform to build an enterprise knowledge graph that reconciles customer data across AEON entities and touchpoints. The company described this as a key step in deploying AI agents.

Google Cloud will also help establish the AEON360 Innovation Foundry in Kuala Lumpur to improve AI fluency among employees. The centre will provide Google skills training and certifications, while giving teams an environment to develop and scale agentic AI solutions for customer engagement and revenue generation across AEON’s network of merchants, tenants and suppliers.

The foundry will use Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience to deploy pre-built and configurable agents for shopping and customer service. According to the statement, a shopping agent will process text, voice and images to build carts and carry out consented actions, while a customer experience agent will provide round-the-clock inquiry resolution and assist human representatives with real-time guidance.

AEON360 also plans to extend agentic commerce beyond its own digital platforms through the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard pioneered by Google. The company said this could support future services such as a business agent through the Google Merchant Center, enabling shoppers to interact directly with AEON brands on Google Search.

In addition, AEON360 said it is exploring integrations with Google Pay that would allow shoppers to authorise agent-led transactions using payment methods and shipping details stored securely in Google Wallet.