Google launches Universal Cart AI shopping tool — SkimNews
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- Google is rolling out its Universal Cart tool — first previewed at its I/O event in May — across the Gemini app and Google Search in the US, timed ahead of Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.
- The universal cart lets users save products from multiple retailers in a single unified space that works across Google Search AI Mode and the Gemini app, with all saved items synced to the same cart.
- Google will send users notifications for price drops and restocks on saved items, and the tool can surface relevant promotional codes alongside the products in the cart.
- Users can pay through Google Wallet directly or transfer items to a retailer's own cart to check out with the merchant, and Universal Cart combined with Google Wallet can analyze credit card perks to recommend the best payment method at purchase time.
- Google plans to integrate Universal Cart with Gmail and YouTube but has not announced a timeline for either expansion.
- The launch comes as OpenAI, Meta, and Shopify ramp up competing agentic AI shopping capabilities, with Shopify recently opening its platform to let more AI agents browse and purchase from its listings.
Why it matters: Google is entering agentic AI shopping just as rivals OpenAI and Meta field competing assistants and Shopify opens its marketplace to AI agents, with the holiday season giving the company a real-world test of whether aggregating carts across multiple retailers can actually convert shoppers into buyers.
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