Kingfisher to deploy strategic technology investment in Google Cloud’s Vertex AI across e-commerce platforms of B&Q, Castorama France and Poland, and Brico DĆ©pĆ“t France
Kingfisher to enable AI-powered shopping, helping to lead the agentic commerce era
LONDON and SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Kingfisher plc, a leading international home improvement company, and Google Cloud today announced a multi-year partnership to significantly improve the online shopping experience for Kingfisher’s customers using agentic AI.
Through its strategic technology investment in Google Cloud technologies, Kingfisher will move beyond traditional keyword search on its sites, including B&Q, Castorama France and Poland, and Brico DƩpƓt France, and toward enabling proactive, AI-driven shopping assistants.
This deal focuses on two key areas:
- Intelligent search with Vertex AI:Ā Kingfisher is upgrading to Vertex AI Search for Commerce, moving from rigid keywords to intuitive, conversational discovery. This shift aligns with modern shopper behaviour to deliver faster, more precise results. Early trials at B&Q have already shown meaningful results.
- Pioneering AI-driven shopping throughĀ agentic commerce:Ā This partnership with Google Cloud will help Kingfisher unlock its extensive product and data catalogues to build proactive Al shopping agents. These agents will empower customers with their capability to plan complex home improvement projects, generate smart shopping lists, and execute seamless purchases.
Thierry Garnier, CEO of Kingfisher plc, said: “Through this partnership with Google Cloud, we are enabling our customers to search for and buy home improvement products with AIādelivering a fully personalised and easy shopping experience. These investments put Kingfisher at the forefront of AI-powered shopping, delivering meaningful innovation as part of our expanding digital ecosystem, and helping us to meet rapidly evolving customer needs.”
Matt Renner, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Google Cloud, added: “Kingfisher is setting a new standard for how retailers can use innovative cloud solutions to solve complex customer problems. By integrating Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and preparing its data for an agentic future, they are creating truly helpful, conversational shopping experiences. We are proud to be a part of Kingfisher’s digital transformation across the UK and Europe.”
This agreement builds on a long-standing relationship with Kingfisher utilizing Google Cloud to enhance its digital capabilities and fuel omnichannel growth. It is already delivering results, with e-commerce accounting for more than 20% of Kingfisher’s Group sales.1 It also expands on the success of Kingfisher’s in-house AI platform, Athena, which launched in 2023 to power virtual assistants like Hello Casto and Hello B&Q.
Beyond these customer tools, Kingfisher works closely with Google’s Ads and Shopping teams to improve online performance. Supporting all of this is the modernization of Nucleus, Kingfisher’s central data lake, which ensures the company has a secure and powerful data foundation for its future AI projects.
About Kingfisher plc
Kingfisher plc is an international home improvement company with over 1,700 stores, supported by a team of more than 70,000 colleagues. We operate in seven countries across Europe under retail banners including B&Q, Castorama, Brico DĆ©pĆ“t, Screwfix, TradePoint and KoƧtaÅ. We offer home improvement products and services to consumers and trade professionals who shop in our stores and via our e-commerce channels.
Better Homes. Better Lives. For Everyone. At Kingfisher, we believe a better world starts with better homes and we strive to help make that happen.
About Google Cloud
Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.
1 E-commerce represented 20.7% of Group sales as of Q3 ended 31 October 2025.
SOURCE Google Inc.