Google's Universal Cart lets AI handle your shopping across retailers

Google has unveiled its Universal Cart at Google I/O, a bold move to centralize online shopping within its ecosystem. The cart runs on Gemini and lets users add products from Search, Gemini chats, and eventually YouTube and Gmail. It works across major retailers including Sephora, Target, Wayfair, and Walmart. Key features include price-drop alerts, out-of-stock notifications, and compatibility warnings—for example, flagging an incompatible motherboard and CPU socket for a first-time PC builder. Shoppers can also connect loyalty programs and credit cards via Google Pay, and either check out directly through Google or transfer the cart to a retailer’s site to complete the purchase there.

This agentic shopping push comes as Google doubles down on AI-driven commerce while some competitors retreat. The company previously launched an AI voice agent for calling stores about inventory and semi-automatic online purchasing. However, success depends on retailer participation—many fear losing direct customer relationships (the “DoorDash problem”). Meanwhile, Amazon sued Perplexity for AI-powered checkout, and OpenAI’s similar ChatGPT feature underperformed. Google’s bet is that a seamless, cross-retailer cart powered by AI will convince users to let robots manage their spending, but adoption hurdles and trust issues remain significant.