Sophie Blake
Google has introduced two shopping updates ahead of the 2026 holiday season, launching its Universal Cart feature in the United States and publishing a new data-driven guide that identifies when discounts are most likely to peak across different product categories.
The updates focus on helping consumers manage purchases across multiple retailers, monitor price changes and determine when to buy products based on historical shopping trends.
Universal Cart connects shopping activity across Google Search and the Gemini app, while the company’s first When to Buy Guide analyzes promotional patterns and consumer search behavior from the 2025 holiday season.
Google’s Universal Cart is now rolling out to U.S. users across Google Search and the Gemini app, allowing shoppers to save products from different retailers in a single shopping cart.
First previewed at Google I/O in May, the feature is designed to maintain shopping activity across Google’s services without requiring users to restart their product searches.
For example, a consumer can save an item while browsing AI Mode in Google Search and later add products from other retailers through Gemini. All selected products remain accessible in the same cart.
The system uses Google’s Shopping Graph, which contains more than 60 billion continuously updated product listings, to monitor pricing and inventory changes.
Users can receive notifications when saved products become cheaper or return to stock, reducing the need to manually revisit individual retailer websites.
Universal Cart also incorporates Google Wallet information to identify relevant payment benefits and help users compare available payment methods.
The feature can surface promotional codes and other offers associated with products in the cart.
For checkout, shoppers can complete eligible purchases using Google Pay or transfer products to a retailer’s website to finalize the transaction.
Google said simplified checkout experiences are available with participating merchants including Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair and numerous Shopify stores.
Retailers remain responsible for order confirmations and customer support, and continue to serve as the sellers of record.
Alongside Universal Cart, Google published its first When to Buy Guide, a report examining historical discounts and shopping trends to identify potentially favorable purchasing periods during the holiday season.
The analysis draws on Google Search trends, promotional activity and discount data from U.S. retailers during 2025.
According to Google, the timing of discounts varies considerably between product categories, meaning Black Friday does not necessarily offer the lowest prices for every type of purchase.
For fragrances, Google recommends shopping within the first two weeks after Black Friday weekend. Its analysis found that fragrance discounts generally do not improve significantly closer to Christmas, while the availability of discounted products decreases.
Handbags follow a different pattern. Google identified mid-December as a period when consumers may find a combination of substantial discounts and product availability. Deeper markdowns can occur toward the end of December, although the selection of available products may be smaller.
Travel-related purchases also show differences. Smaller accessories, including packing cubes, tend to receive stronger promotions in November, while larger suitcases frequently reach their deepest discounts during late-December clearance sales.
For electronic toys, Google’s data indicates that some of the largest markdowns occur during the final weeks of December rather than during Black Friday.
However, the company cautioned that inventory levels, delivery deadlines and pricing conditions can change from year to year, making the findings historical indicators rather than guarantees of future discounts.
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