Google unveils its new Universal Cart for agentic commerce

Google kicked off its annual Google I/O developer conference on May 19 with numerous announcements, including new details about its latest agentic commerce and checkout tool, the Universal Cart.

Universal Cart is built on top of Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which enables artificial intelligence (AI) agents to communicate with payments infrastructure in ecommerce transactions. Google co-developed the UCP with Shopify.

Notably, Universal Cart will allow online shoppers to make purchases from multiple merchants in a single experience that connects with Google’s Search, Gemini, YouTube and Gmail activities. News Albertsons uses Google Cloud for new supply chain tool Mary Meisenzahl | May 15, 2026 What does Google’s Universal Cart do?

Universal Cart purchases from Nike and Ulta Beauty | Image credit: Google press kit “Universal Cart is an intelligent shopping cart and your new hub for shopping on Google,” wrote Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president and general manager for ads and commerce at Google, in a blog post describing the technology.

“It works across merchants and across services, so you can add things to your cart while you’re browsing Search, chatting with Gemini, watching YouTube or even reading your Gmail.” Google shared images of Universal Cart handling purchases from retailers including Nike, Target, Ulta Beauty and Wayfair.

In addition, Srinivasan explained how the tool’s AI systems would work behind the scenes to anticipate and plan next steps. Nike ranks No. 15 in the Top 2000 Database. The Top 2000 is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North American online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales and more. There, Target ranks No. 5, Ulta Beauty is No. 37, and Wayfair is No.

11. “The moment you add a product to your cart, it gets to work in the background — finding deals and price drops, giving you insights on price history and alerting you when an item is back in stock,” she stated. “It all runs on our Gemini models, so your cart gets even smarter as the models improve.”

Srinivasan cited examples of proactive recommendations that Universal Cart might offer, such as incompatibilities among computer components and alternative options. Moreover, it leverages knowledge from Google Wallet, including a shopper’s “payment method perks, loyalty information and merchant offers” to inform its recommendations.

How payments work within Universal Cart Universal Cart payment and recommendations | Image credit: Google press kit “When you’re ready to buy, UCP makes checkout from your cart super smooth,” Srinivasan said.

“You can check out with Google Pay in just a few taps with many of your favorite brands, or transfer your items to the merchant’s site to complete your purchase.”

She cited merchants including “Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair and Shopify merchants such as Fenty and Steve Madden” as earlier participants whose products would be available through Universal Cart “soon.” “Universal Cart is rolling out across Search and the Gemini app in the U. S.

this summer, with YouTube and Gmail to follow,” she said. Do you rank in our databases? Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update. Sign up Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News.

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