Google has rolled out the Universal Cart shopping cart in Search and Gemini

Google launched its Universal Cart feature, which it showed at its I/O 2026 event in May, in the United States on October 15, 2026. The shopping cart works both in Google Search and in the Gemini app; in other words, the cart sits in a shared place between search results and the AI assistant.

The announcement was made by Suresh Ganapathy, senior director of product management for consumer shopping at Google, on the company’s The Keyword blog. Ganapathy said Google is running its commerce business on two tracks. The first track is agentic capabilities that act on behalf of the shopper; the second is practical tools that give users trust and control. Universal Cart sits on the second track. The checkout step in the cart runs through the Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP for short.

Different stores, one cart

In the scenario Google describes, the user saves a bag from Steve Madden in AI Mode within Search, a sweater from Quince in the Gemini app, and a lipstick from Ulta Beauty. When they return to the cart, all three products are sitting in the same place. The company presents this as a tidier alternative to shopping lost among tabs and screenshots.

The cart is built on the more than 60 billion continuously updated product listings that Google maintains in its Shopping Graph. Thanks to this infrastructure, the cart works in the background and sends notifications when a price drops or an out-of-stock item becomes available again.

Savings, checkout, and purchase

Because the cart is built on Google Wallet, it can read the user’s card benefits, help them choose which payment method is more rewarding, and show discount codes directly inside the cart. Google says it developed this feature for users who carry multiple credit cards but don’t know which card offers which benefit.

At the moment of purchase, there are two paths. The user either pays from inside the cart with Google Pay in a few taps at participating stores, or transfers the products to the store’s own cart and completes the purchase on the store’s site. The streamlined checkout experience is available at Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, and Wayfair, as well as many Shopify merchants. In both paths, order confirmation and customer support come from the store; the store remains the merchant of record.

Made it in time for the holiday season

Google positions Universal Cart as a tool for the holiday shopping season. The US rollout of the feature shown at I/O in May shows that the company is moving toward productizing its agentic shopping efforts.

Source: Unite.AI