Shopify launched universal checkout in the Shop app, which lets shoppers put products from several different brands in one cart and pay for everything in a single checkout. Each merchant still makes the sale and keeps the customer relationship, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein said in a LinkedIn post. The feature runs on Shopify’s Universal Commerce Protocol endpoint, which merges up to 15 single-store carts into one Shop Pay checkout, and outside developers can request early access to add it to their own AI shopping agents. Google’s Universal Cart, which launched in AI Mode and Gemini on October 15, also holds items from multiple retailers, but at some stores shoppers still finish paying on each merchant’s site.
