Google Rolls Out Universal Cart, a Single Basket for Shopping Across Stores

Google has begun rolling out Universal Cart, a shopping feature designed to let people collect items from different retailers in one place. Rather than filling a separate basket on every store's website, shoppers can keep their picks together and come back to them later.

The launch extends Google's push to keep more of the shopping journey on its own properties. Search has steadily added tools for comparing prices, tracking deals and browsing products, and a cart that spans merchants fits that pattern. For shoppers, the appeal is less juggling between sites. For retailers, the question is how much of the buying decision happens before a customer ever reaches their checkout page.

Whether Universal Cart becomes a routine part of online shopping will depend on how smoothly it works in practice, including how it handles prices that change, stock that runs out and purchases that still have to be completed on each merchant's site.