Overview
Google’s intelligent AI shopping cart is rolling out in the US across the Gemini app and Google Search, with the aim of making it easier to stay organized and save money when shopping online.
Google launches its universal online shopping cart ahead of the holidays
The AI shopping tool is coming to Google Search and the Gemini app first.
Save all of the products you’re browsing in one place.
Features and Integration
As the name suggests, it’s a universal digital cart that lets you save products from multiple retailers in a single unified space, and works across different Google platforms. That means you can find and add products using the Gemini app and Google Search AI Mode, and they will all be saved to the same cart. There are also plans to integrate Universal Cart with Gmail and YouTube, but Google has not announced a timeline for that yet.
The checkout options for Universal Cart indicate that users cannot check out multiple retailers simultaneously.
Price Tracking and Payments
Google will send notifications about price drops and restocks for items saved in your cart, sparing you from having to check each retailer’s website individually, and can display any relevant promotional codes it finds alongside the products you have saved. You can choose to pay for items from the cart using Google Wallet or transfer them to the merchant’s own cart to checkout with the retailer directly. Together with Google Wallet, Universal Cart can also analyze the perks provided by each of your saved credit cards to help you choose the best payment method.
Market Competition
The launch comes as competition in the AI-assisted shopping space intensifies, with Google rivals including OpenAI and Meta having launched agentic AI assistants capable of shopping online on the user’s behalf. Shopify also recently opened its platform to allow more AI agents to browse and purchase from Shopify listings, as major technology companies bet that the future of online shopping involves automated assistants.
