Consumers have flocked to artificial intelligence platforms for shopping advice, but purchases often still require clicks outside the chat. To better capture customer behavior, Google has unveiled Universal Cart, an AI-driven e-commerce solution designed to serve as a one-stop shop.
Users can add products surfaced in Gemini chats or Google searches—and eventually those from YouTube and Gmail—to Universal Cart. Beyond facilitating transactions, it can search for bargains, monitor price fluctuations, and alerts users when items are in or out of stock.
The goal is to create an e-commerce ecosystem that reflects how consumers actually shop. People frequently search for items across multiple devices or browse vastly different products within the same day.
The cart uses AI to help shoppers make decisions, extending even to payments. Google said Universal Cart will suggest payment methods and identify ways to save money. While the platform is effectively designed as an overarching e-commerce front-end, shoppers will still be able to connect merchants’ loyalty programs and credit cards via Google Pay.
On the Agentic Edge
Alongside Universal Cart, the tech giant also announced updates to Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), a standard Google developed as a neutral, open-source framework for agentic AI.
The protocol is intended to provide infrastructure for agentic commerce, where AI agents autonomously shop for and purchase products on consumers’ behalf. Although AP2 was introduced only last fall, Google said the technology is now just months away from being integrated across its product ecosystem.
A Potential Gatekeeper for E-Commerce
Both AP2 and Universal Cart have the potential to reshape e-commerce. By creating a layer between merchants and customers, Google is positioning itself to be one of the chief arbiters of e-commerce.
“At first, a Google shopping cart seems like a great convenience for shoppers, but one need only look back on how Google has managed its search business to see what retailers can expect,’ said Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Search was a great lift for nascent ecommerce retailers trying to get noticed and get their brands in front of consumers, but SEO eventually disadvantaged niche retailers as they got squeezed down below the fold behind merchants with large SEO budgets.”
For merchants, an AI-managed layer could mean fewer opportunities to entice customers with additional purchases, since consumers may never visit a retailer’s website directly. It could also make visibility in AI-driven search and recommendation systems increasingly essential—something that may become more competitive and costly in the long run.
“Affiliate fees are common in ecommerce where merchants pay a fee, usually 10%, to the site where the consumer clicked through to reach the merchant,” Apgar said. “Most banner ads and margin ads on content sites are put there by the site owners purposely to drive affiliate fee income.”
“Most search users know that the top results are sponsored and that additional content-matched results are available further down the page, but the game changes when this concept extends to the actual purchase,” he said. “It remains to be seen if the Google business model of serving consumers while being paid merchants will extend to agentic commerce.”
