Google launches Universal Cart in the US, betting on AI shopping hubs

Google opened its Universal Cart shopping tool to all U.S. users on Thursday, aiming to turn scattered online shopping into a single tracked list. The company first previewed the feature at Google I/O in May.

The core function is simple: users save products they find across Google Search and the Gemini app, and the cart keeps those items — plus shopping progress — intact between sessions. Shoppers can return later without hunting down the same products or starting over.

Universal Cart pulls items from multiple retailers into one place, positioning itself as a central hub for browsing and tracking potential purchases. That puts Google between shoppers and individual store carts, a space Amazon has long owned by default.

What else can the cart do?

Google says the cart helps shoppers stay on top of deals and availability. The tool sends notifications when a saved product's price drops or when an out-of-stock item becomes available again.

It also promises tailored help during checkout. Google says the cart can factor credit card perks into payment recommendations and surface relevant promo codes.

Those features depend, of course, on retailers cooperating with Google's pipes — the company did not say Thursday how many merchants support them at launch.

How does checkout work?

Checkout runs on Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP, an open standard the company introduced earlier this year. UCP is designed to let AI agents and retailers work together across different parts of the shopping journey, including checkout.

The open-standard framing signals Google wants broader industry adoption rather than a closed marketplace. No adoption figures were disclosed, so the protocol's real reach remains an open question.

Where does this fit in Google's strategy?

Google is already deeply invested in AI-powered shopping. Universal Cart joins conversational product discovery in Search's AI Mode and the "Let Google Call" tool, which uses an AI agent to contact nearby stores and check whether an item is in stock.

Google frames Universal Cart as its latest effort to make the experience more convenient. Whether convenience translates into checkout volume — and revenue — is the metric to watch.

Who else is chasing agentic commerce?

Google isn't the only company bringing AI into e-commerce. Amazon, OpenAI, and other rivals have added agentic commerce features as companies look for ways to make chatbots useful beyond answering questions.

The race now is over which platform becomes the default layer between shoppers and retailers. Universal Cart's U.S. launch is Google's most direct bid yet for that position; its success will hinge on retailer adoption of UCP that Google has yet to quantify.