We have already seen shopping suggestions on Chrome’s new tab page. Today, we have a name for this feature. Introducing “Chrome Cart.”
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Chrome Cart Flag
I spotted a new experimental flag today in the Chromium code. The flag is called “NTP Chrome Cart Module.” At first, I thought this is just a new name for the existing shopping suggestions.
Then I found a tag that groups all Chrome Cart related code changes. The code changes tagged under Chrome Cart makaes it clear that this is more than just a widget for the new tab page.
Support for Ebay, Best Buy and Home Depot
While looking at Chrome Cart related code, the most interesting code change requests were for specific shopping websites.
I cannot say Chrome Cart has deep integration with these shopping websites. However, Chrome wants to help you shop better, probably by storing your cart items?
Here is a list of URLs that Chrome Cart has put together:
{“walmart.com”, “https://walmart.com/cart”},
{“amazon.com”, “https://www.amazon.com/gp/cart/view.html”},
{“hm.com”, “https://www2.hm.com/en_us/cart”},
{“ebay.com”, “https://cart.payments.ebay.com/”},
{“etsy.com”, “https://www.etsy.com/cart”},
{“bestbuy.com”, “https://www.bestbuy.com/cart”},
{“homedepot.com”, “https://www.homedepot.com/mycart/home”},
So, What is Chrome Cart?
We still do not know enough to say what this new service is. However, here is my theory based on what I have seen so far in the code.
Chrome Cart, just like Chrome Kalediscope, will curate items from various shopping websites that you use. You will be able o interact with indivdual items from Chrome, most likely the new tab page.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Google tries to give you a better price from a different store for items you have added to your Cart. For example, if you add a Chromebook from Amazon to your shopping cart, Google might suggest you a listing from Best Buy, for the same product, at a lower price.
Do you have a different theory? I would love to hear about it in the comments section below.
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