Google’s Universal Cart Is Your New AI-Powered Shopping Assistant.
Among the many AI-powered features announced today at Google I/O 2026 is the new “intelligent shopping cart,” designed to help you find products faster and make the shopping experience more convenient. Universal Cart is a one-stop shop that works across all Google services, so you can add products from multiple retailers across Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail to a single shopping cart.
How Google’s new universal recycle bin works
After you add an item to your universal cart, Gemini will search for deals, display price history, and notify you of price drops and restocks. The system can suggest other products that match your purchase, identify potential issues (such as incompatible items), and suggest alternatives. For example, if you’re buying components for a PC build, the universal cart can alert you if one component is incompatible with another.
Universal Cart integrates with Google Wallet, so it will also consider rewards points, merchant offers, and loyalty programs to find additional discounts. Finally, you can complete your cart purchase using Google Pay or transfer saved items to the merchant’s website. These checkout features will be integrated for merchants such as Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta, Walmart, Wayfair, and Shopify.
Universal Cart builds on Google’s existing AI-powered online shopping features , such as price tracking and automated checkout , which are powered by the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). Google says this feature is powered by Gemini models, so Universal Cart should continue to improve as the company updates its AI.
When will Universal Cart be released?
The Universal Cart service will launch in Search and the Gemini app this summer (in the US) and will eventually integrate with YouTube and Gmail. Google is also expanding agent payment options to users in Canada, Australia, and the UK, as well as to YouTube in the US and services like hotel booking and food delivery.