Google’s Universal Cart Is Live: How Carts Get To Your Store

Google launched Universal Cart in the United States through Google Search and the Gemini app, letting shoppers add items from multiple retailers into one cart with price-drop and back-in-stock alerts and checkout via Google Pay or the retailer's site, according to a blog post from Suresh Ganapathy, Senior Director of Product Management for Consumer Shopping. Named merchants for in-cart checkout or cart transfer include Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and many Shopify merchants, with the merchant remaining seller of record. Cart transfer runs through the Cart API in the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which supports one-way cart creation and transfer only via a CreateCart call, with no updating, deleting, or syncing of cart contents between Google and the merchant's system.

Google is launching Universal Cart in the United States through both Google Search and its Gemini app. The Universal Cart allows customers to add items from multiple different retailers into it, also provides price drop notifications and stock replenishment notices; allows users to complete checkout using either Google Pay or simply go to the retailer’s website at participating stores. In a blog post https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/universal-cart-launch/ announcing the launch Suresh Ganapathy stated that he was Senior Director of Product Management for Consumer Shopping. Google had initially announced the Universal Cart during I/O https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/google-shopping-cart/ in May. What Universal Cart Does You can add products from several stores while shopping in Search, including AI Mode, or in the Gemini app, and keep everything together in one cart across both. You’ll also get alerts when a saved item drops in price or comes back in stock. It’s built on Google Wallet, so it can suggest which of a shopper’s cards to use based on each card’s perks. It also shows promo codes in the cart. Merchants Google names for in-cart checkout or cart transfer include Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and many Shopify merchants. The merchant stays the seller of record either way. What’s Changed Since May In its I/O post which we covered at the time https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-announces-new-universal-cart-at-i-o/575301/ , Google stated that it expected Search and the Gemini app in the United States to have access to the shopping cart by the end of Summer. The same post stated that YouTube and Gmail would get this functionality later. The new post does not contain any information regarding YouTube and Gmail. Additionally, the original May post included historical pricing for items, warnings that products in your Shopping Cart will not function together, as well as loyalty program information related to Google Wallet. None of these features are mentioned within today’s post. It is possible they were included; however, the Launch Post does not include descriptions of these capabilities. In May, Google described Universal Cart as “the next step that brings this all together” for the agentic commerce foundation it had been building. Today’s post separates agentic features that act on a shopper’s behalf from tools that “give shoppers confidence and control,” and places the cart in the second group. How Carts Reach Merchants Google’s developer docs tie the cart’s transfer option to the Cart API in the Universal Commerce Protocol UCP . The Cart API guide https://developers.google.com/merchant/ucp/guides/overview/cart-overview says the API supports Universal Cart by creating a cart on the merchant’s system, through a CreateCart call, when a shopper transfers their items. This first release is one-way and covers cart creation and transfer only. The guide says updating, deleting, or syncing cart contents between Google and the merchant’s system isn’t supported. Native checkout on Google is a separate API and isn’t required for cart transfer. Participating merchants who meet Google’s onboarding requirements select either option in the UCP integration hub in Merchant Center. Google’s help page https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/16992327 says the hub is rolling out gradually in the U.S., with Australia and Canada to follow next year. I covered the hub’s cart transfer option https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-ucp-update-lets-merchants-enable-cart-transfer-to-site/589713/ when Google added it in September. What Merchants Can See The UCP Analytics Reporting dashboard https://developers.google.com/merchant/ucp/guides/tools/merchant-center/analytics in Merchant Center tracks the checkout funnel from clicks on the Buy button through purchases and cancellations. Google’s Merchant API reference https://developers.google.com/merchant/api/reference/rpc/google.shopping.merchant.reports.v1alpha/Types/UcpAgenticPerformanceView for the same data also lists cart transfer metrics, such as the number of cart transfers and the average cart value at transfer, and describes each as equivalent to a metric in the Merchant Center dashboard. That API reporting is in alpha https://developers.google.com/merchant/api/guides/reports/ucp-performance-reports . None of these pages list a metric for products saved to a cart. Shopify’s support information https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-sales-channels/agentic-storefronts/google for its Google AI Mode & Gemini Channel states that Direct Checkout is enabled by default for eligible U.S. Shopify Stores. According to Shopify’s Help Page regarding the Google AI Mode & Gemini Channel, Google Analytics and Custom Pixels will not fire when a customer completes their purchase through the Direct Checkout option. Unfortunately, no information was found about how Universal Cart handles in-cart purchases made from a merchant using the Shopify platform. In addition, we could not determine if in-cart purchases are handled with the same checkout process as purchases completed through Direct Checkout. SEJ contributor Slobodan Manic recently reported on the Default settings for Shopify https://www.searchenginejournal.com/shopify-now-enrolls-your-store-in-every-new-ai-shopping-channel/591049/ . Why This Matters Universal Cart allows for a buyer’s shopping list to reside with their account at Google. Checkout can also be performed from the buyer’s shopping list within Google. Two methods are described by Google’s docs to complete a purchase from Universal Cart. The first method of completing a purchase using Universal Cart, known as “Native checkout”, completes the sale via Google. The second method of completing a purchase using Universal Cart, called “Cart Transfer” allows the shopper to create a pre-filled shopping cart upon the shopper’s arrival at the merchant’s website. The UCP sales tracking system tracks both cart transfers and purchases separately. Additionally, the number of purchases tracked by the sales tracking system for Universal Cart includes all completely finished purchases made directly from the shopper’s Universal Cart shopping list. Purchases made after transferring an itemized list of products to a merchant’s website will occur at the merchant’s site. A Shopify store may view whether direct checkout is on via Sales channels Agentic within the Shopify Admin. Looking Ahead Universal Cart is being rolled out in the United States right now before the holiday shopping season begins. The post today does not have a timeline for when YouTube or Gmail will be available, both services Google mentioned they will support later. As long as merchants have been granted access to the UCP integration hub they should continue to see buy click activity, purchase activity, and cart transfer on the analytics tab. Featured Image: Google. Source: Google.