Have you ever shopped online, added an item to your cart and then forgot about it? Historically, to buy the item, you’d have to navigate back to the original website and complete your checkout there. However, Google is about to change all that with the new Universal Cart.
But what exactly is it and how will it change the way businesses market online?
What is Universal Cart?
Google’s Universal Cart is a cross-platform shopping feature that integrates directly into Google Search, Chrome, YouTube and Gmail. According to TechCrunch, it’s a feature designed to follow your entire shopping journey across the web, bringing it into one easy-to-access location.
A survey by Retail World found that 88% of online shoppers abandon their carts, resulting in an annual loss of $18 billion in sales revenue for e-commerce stores nationally. Additionally, 38% of respondents admitted they frequently abandoned online shopping to find lower prices elsewhere.
Universal Cart directly targets this hesitation. With this feature, if a customer abandons a cart on your website, Google remembers it. When they next open a new tab or search online, those saved items appear, allowing them to complete the purchase instantly without having to return to your site.
Additionally, Google designed Universal Cart to continuously monitor price history, track price drops, and scan for active coupon codes in the background.
How is Universal Cart changing the way people shop?
Universal Cart is part of a growing trend of major platforms centralising our digital footprints, much like Meta’s recent single login dashboard. This new Google feature will change the way people shop online in the following ways:
- Consumers can check out directly within Google’s search platform rather than visiting individual brand websites.
- Shoppers can build a single, continuous wishlist as they move between Google Search, YouTube and Gmail, pulling items from different retailers into one central spot.
- Shoppers won’t manually search for discount codes; the browser will seek out price drops and calculate rewards programs in the background.
What does this mean for your business, and how can you prepare?
If you run an e-commerce brand or handle digital marketing, Universal Cart changes the way your customers shop online. With consumers no longer needing to visit your digital storefront to finish an order, it’s important to find new ways to connect your products with your customers. To make sure your business stays ahead, here’s how you can prepare:
- Update your Google Merchant Centre feed: Ensure your product data, stock levels and pricing are synced with Google’s Merchant Centre. Universal Cart relies on structured data from the Centre to accurately show your inventory to users.
- Build and refine your contact lists: As big tech platforms create closed-loop shopping environments, owning direct customer relationships is crucial. Focus on expanding your email list and loyalty programs so you aren’t entirely reliant on Google to bring customers back.
Getting these foundations right now means you won’t just keep up with Google’s latest changes, but you’ll be able to capture the sales other brands lose when shoppers walk away.
