As a consumer, I have no particular loyalty to any retailer, but I buy from Amazon multiple times a day. That’s not because I have any specific affection for the digital giant, but it’s easy to shop there, I assume the price will be lower than other places, and as a Prime member, delivery is free.
Google, however, wants to shake that up and make it easier for consumers to shop across multiple retailers without actually having to visit their sites.
Essentially, the search engine’s new “Universal Cart” aims to make finding the best deals, without actually having to look for them, easier for customers.
“Universal Cart is an intelligent shopping cart and your new hub for shopping on Google. It works across merchants and across services, so you can add things to your cart while you’re browsing Search, chatting with Gemini, watching YouTube or even reading your Gmail,” the company shared in a press release.
Google wants you to get better prices
Google has decided that instead of selling items to consumers, it will help them find what they want at the best price.
“The moment you add a product to your cart, it gets to work in the background — finding deals and price drops, giving you insights on price history and alerting you when an item is back in stock. It all runs on our Gemini models, so your cart gets even smarter as the models improve,” the Alphabet-owned company shared.
The Universal Cart attempts to corral people’s shopping habits into one place. People shop over the course of days, across different devices and accounts, Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president and general manager of ads and commerce at Google, told The Verge.
“A lot of the ways I capture this is by having many, many, many tabs open and by syncing profiles and things like that. And it kind of works,” Srinivasan said. “What the shopping cart does from a current problem perspective is it brings all of this together…. It is a cart that’s going to be available wherever I am across Google properties.”
A cart icon will be displayed next to a user’s profile picture.
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Google wants you to shop better
Srinivasan sees the cart almost like a personal shopper working in the background, according to The Verge.
The Universal Cart works across different retailers, including Sephora, Target, Wayfair, and Walmart, and eventually users will be able to add items to their cart from YouTube or when they see products in Gmail.
“Once a product is in the cart, users can get price-drop alerts, view price history, and be notified when an out-of-stock item is available again,” Srinivasan added.
Retail analysts believe the technology could have broad implications for retailers.
“This is a significant shift in that it signals the age of agentic commerce is becoming a reality for many retailers,” Neil Saunders, managing director of retail at GlobalData, told Business Insider.
The change could shift more power toward platforms that control the shopping journey and away from retailers that rely on direct customer relationships.
Google is not the only player moving into agentic shopping.
“While Google faces growing competition from AI agents such as ChatGPT across search and shopping journeys, it is leaning on its existing scale and infrastructure to defend its lead in this evolving space,” Forbes reported.
How does Google’s Universal Cart work?
Srinivasan gave more details as to how Universal Cart works in a blog post.
“Universal Cart also uses intelligent reasoning to anticipate your needs and help solve problems before they arise. Say you’re building your first custom PC and add a few parts from several retailers to your cart. Your cart will proactively flag any product incompatibilities and suggest alternatives,” she wrote.
Google has also worked to make payment a fluid part of the process.
“Since the cart was built on Google Wallet, it understands your payment method perks, loyalty information and merchant offers so it can help you choose. This lets you quickly find opportunities for hidden savings or points without having to remember them yourself,” Srinivasan added.
Vogue Business explained how Universal Cart will make shopping easier.
“Online shopping has been defined for decades by consumers’ long-winded search-browse-and-buy pursuits across the web, keeping buyers close to brands they value and fully embedded in the journey. But now, Google’s newly unveiled Universal Cart, built on AI models running seamlessly in the background of every web-based surface, has the power to dramatically shift the dynamic,” Savannah Fortis wrote for Vogue Business.
Google’s new product could shift some sales between low-cost retailers including Walmart, Costco, Amazon, Target, and Kroger.
Universal Cart removes the need to make multiple shopping visits across retailers.
Universal Cart, acts as a single shopping cart that works across merchants and Google surfaces. A consumer can add makeup from Sephora to their cart from within the Gemini app, then add home cleaning products from Target through Google Search, and a pair of shoes from Nike via a YouTube video — and check out together,” AdWeek reported.
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