On 15 October Google began rolling out Universal Cart in the United States, a shopping basket that collects products from different stores and keeps them together as you move from Google Search to Gemini. It was first shown in May, at Google I/O. For now the service is available only in the US, and Google has not announced a date for Italy or other European markets.
How it works
The idea is simple: instead of keeping ten tabs and ten baskets open, you add products to a single list as you search. You can do this from Google Search, in particular from AI Mode, or during a conversation with Gemini. The basket is saved and follows you across sessions and apps.
Once a product is in the basket, Gemini works in the background. It tracks price changes and lets you know when an item drops in price or comes back in stock, drawing on the Shopping Graph, the catalogue of products and stores on which Google builds its shopping searches.
According to the description reported by several outlets, the system can also flag incompatibilities. The example given is someone building their first PC from parts bought from different retailers: the basket warns you if two components don’t work together and suggests alternatives.
Discounts, cards and payment
Universal Cart uses Google Wallet to work out which benefits the user’s card offers, such as cashback or card-network deals, and suggests the most advantageous payment method. It also shows the promo codes available.
There are two ways to buy. You can pay directly in the basket with Google Pay, or transfer the items to the store’s website and complete the order there. Behind it sits the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), the protocol that lets Google and retailers exchange order data.
One important point: the seller remains the store. It is the retailer that is the merchant of record, sends the order confirmation and handles customer service, not Google. The partners named include Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart and Wayfair, as well as many stores that use Shopify.
What remains to be confirmed
The launch covers Search and the Gemini app. In the spring Google also talked about YouTube and Gmail as places from which to add products, but Google has not yet confirmed that these integrations are already live. Likewise, there is no date for arrival in Europe, nor any information on which Italian stores might sign up.
What it means for shoppers in Italy
In practice, nothing changes today: anyone living in Italy or Switzerland cannot use Universal Cart. It is still worth following, though, because it shows where Google wants to take online shopping. Search stops being merely the place you start from on the way to a store and becomes the place where you compare prices, choose products and, if you like, pay.
Whether the service will reach us will depend on how many European retailers adopt the UCP and on how Google handles payments and data within European Union rules. There have been no announcements on that front.
If you want to get to know Google’s AI tools in the meantime, you can look at how the usage limits on the models are changing: we covered it in our analysis of Gemini and the limits of the free models.
What we think
A single basket is a useful feature, and the price and compatibility checks solve real problems: anyone who has bought PC components knows how easy it is to get it wrong. The most interesting part, though, is something else: Google places itself between the user and the store at the very moment of choice.
The fact that the retailer remains the official seller is reassuring for customer service and returns, but it leaves Google in a position of strength: it decides what to show, in what order and with which offers. For smaller stores, everything depends on how easy it is to join the protocol and how much being visible in the basket will count.
For users the advice is cautious: when the service arrives, it is worth continuing to compare prices outside Google, and always checking the final total on the store’s site before paying. Price-drop alerts are handy, but they are no substitute for a comparison done at your own pace.
Written by the SpazioiTech newsroom with the help of AI tools, from facts verified across at least two independent outlets, and checked before publication. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Translated from the Italian original. Read in Italian
