Last May, we told you how Google had used its annual developer conference to unveil a very eye-catching new feature: the universal shopping cart. This new shopping experience, tied to its search engine and the use of AI, is Google’s attempt to reshape how we understand the buyer journey, and it is now available in the United States.
Beyond its flashy name, the universal shopping cart arrives with the goal of “replicating the way people shop on Google today, without losing sight of their items, their savings, or the merchants they trust,” Google explains. It is a smart cart that lets customers add products from different merchants and websites while using Search or Gemini.
“With this cart, you have complete control, allowing you to organize your purchases, save your favorite items from different stores, stay on top of promotions, and enjoy a seamless checkout process thanks to the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP),” Google explains in a statement.
One of the clearest advantages of this new feature is that it allows users to save products from multiple stores as they move through their shopping journey. “For example, if you save a Steve Madden bag to your cart in AI Mode in Search, and then a Quince sweater and an Ulta Beauty lip gloss in the Gemini app, those products will still be in your cart when you come back later, so you can pick up right where you left off,” Google explains.
Of course, the idea behind this move is to help consumers make the most of the synergies within Google’s ecosystem when shopping. To that end, Google has included features tied to Google Wallet and Google Pay, allowing users to pay “in just a few taps at many of your favorite stores, directly from the cart, or you can transfer your items to the seller’s cart to complete checkout on their website.” Online stores offering these simplified checkout experiences include names such as Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and many Shopify stores. In the case of Google Wallet, it will draw on its knowledge of your payment methods, associated benefits (such as coupons or discounts), loyalty programs, and more. This allows it to suggest the best payment method for each occasion and alert you to opportunities to save money or earn points with each purchase.
Finally, the universal cart includes a new feature that will be especially useful during periods such as Black Friday and the holiday season, when consumers closely track price changes on the products they are interested in. Google will send users notifications about price drops on products they care about or, for example, when an item comes back in stock.
Image: ChatGPT and Google
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