Google is expanding its push into agentic commerce with the launch of Universal Cart, a shopping platform that works across Search, Gemini, YouTube and Gmail while automating parts of the purchasing process.
Announced at Google I/O 2026, the initiative builds on the company’s broader efforts around the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open framework intended to standardize interactions between AI agents, merchants and payment systems.
Universal Cart functions as a centralized shopping hub that follows users across Google services. Once items are added, the system uses Gemini models to monitor price changes, identify deals, flag inventory updates and surface compatibility issues for more complex purchases.
Google used its annual developer conference to position the offering as part of a broader transition toward AI-assisted shopping workflows, where agents increasingly handle comparison shopping, checkout preparation and purchasing recommendations.
The company said the cart also integrates with Google Wallet to account for payment methods, loyalty programs and merchant offers. Checkout can occur through Google Pay or by transferring the purchase back to a retailer’s site, with merchants remaining the seller of record.
“Universal Cart is an intelligent shopping cart and your new hub for shopping on Google,” the company said in its announcement.
Google also outlined plans to expand its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), a framework intended to support secure AI-driven purchases with user-defined spending and merchant restrictions. The company said AP2 will begin rolling out to Google products in the coming months, starting with Gemini Spark.
The rollout comes as technology vendors and retailers increasingly compete to establish infrastructure for AI-mediated commerce and automated purchasing workflows.