Google’s Universal Cart Points to the Next Phase of AI Shopping

Google is moving deeper into agentic commerce with a new Universal Cart designed to make online shopping more connected, automated and personalized. The feature, introduced around Google I/O, builds on Shopify’s Universal Commerce Protocol and shows how AI could soon play a much larger role in the way consumers discover products, compare options and complete purchases.

A Shopping Cart That Follows the Customer

Universal Cart is designed to work across Google’s ecosystem, including Search, Gemini, YouTube and Gmail. Instead of acting like a traditional cart tied to one retailer, it can bring together products from multiple merchants while the shopper moves across different Google services.

This means checkout may become less of a final step and more of an ongoing process. As users browse or interact with AI tools, the cart can continue working in the background, keeping track of products, availability and relevant offers.

AI Takes on More of the Shopping Work

Google’s vision goes beyond simply saving items for later. The Universal Cart is expected to support smarter shopping actions, such as checking inventory, looking for deals, applying eligible discounts and identifying potential issues between items in the cart.

For consumers, this could make online shopping faster and more convenient. Instead of manually comparing prices, searching for promo codes or switching between merchant websites, shoppers may increasingly rely on AI to handle those small but time-consuming tasks.

Google Builds on Its Existing Commerce Network

Google already plays a major role in online shopping discovery. Its Shopping Graph includes billions of product listings, and consumers use Google services to shop at huge scale every day. By connecting AI, payments and merchant data more closely, Google is trying to turn that reach into a more complete shopping experience.

The company is also working with major retailers and commerce partners. Universal Cart features are expected to roll out in the U.S. across Search and the Gemini app, with support from retailers such as Nike, Sephora, Target, Walmart, Wayfair and Shopify merchants.

Trust and Payments Could Be Google’s Advantage

One of the biggest challenges for AI shopping is trust. Many consumers may be comfortable using AI to research products, but fewer are ready to let AI complete purchases on their behalf. Payment security, personal data and control over transactions remain major concerns.

Google may have an advantage here because it already operates payment infrastructure through Google Pay and has long-standing relationships with merchants and consumers. Its Agent Payments Protocol is intended to create a safer framework for AI agents making purchases, with clearer limits, permissions and accountability.

Agentic Commerce Moves From Idea to Infrastructure

Universal Cart shows that AI shopping is becoming more than a concept. Google is not only experimenting with product recommendations or conversational search; it is building the infrastructure needed for automated commerce at scale.

If successful, this could change the online shopping journey from a static, search-and-checkout model into a continuous AI-assisted experience. Consumers may still make the final decision, but AI will increasingly shape what they see, how they compare products and when they buy.