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Cart ID

Also known as: Cart Identifier

Conversionshopping cartcart activitycart identifierE-commerceRetail

An opaque shopping cart identifier recorded on each add-to-cart action. It groups additions by cart so teams can investigate shopping activity and cart issues.

Business Use Case

1️⃣ E-commerce teams group additions by cart to investigate repeated cart activity. 2️⃣ Cart teams inspect a cart's additions when investigating reported shopping issues.

Business Criticality

High

Journey / Navigation Area

Cart

Owning Function

E-commerce Operations

Scope

Event

Measurement Channels

Web, Mobile App, Backend / API

Formula

Cart ID = Collected shopping cart identifier

Calculation Notes

1️⃣ Return the collected Cart ID unchanged on each qualifying add-to-cart action. 2️⃣ Repeated Cart IDs group actions; they do not identify people. 3️⃣ Missing Cart IDs do not qualify for the segment population. 4️⃣ Preserve historical action values when carts merge or identifiers change. 5️⃣ Include actions from report start up to, but excluding, report end.

Technical Details

Data Typestring

Events

PlatformEvent
Google Analytics 4add_to_cart — supplies the shopping cart identifier
Adobecommerce.productListAdds — supplies the shopping cart identifier

Data Mappings

W3 Data Layer
{
  "digitalData": {
    "event": [
      {
        "eventInfo": {
          "eventName": "add_to_cart",
          "timeStamp": "2026-10-29T12:00:00Z"
        },
        "attributes": {
          "event_id": "cart-add-A123"
        }
      }
    ],
    "cart": {
      "cartID": "C123",
      "item": [
        {
          "productInfo": {
            "productID": "SKU123"
          },
          "quantity": 2
        },
        {
          "productInfo": {
            "productID": "SKU456"
          },
          "quantity": 1
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
GA4 Data Layer
[
  {
    "event": "add_to_cart",
    "event_id": "cart-add-A123",
    "cart_id": "C123",
    "ecommerce": {
      "items": [
        {
          "item_id": "SKU123",
          "quantity": 2
        },
        {
          "item_id": "SKU456",
          "quantity": 1
        }
      ]
    }
  }
]
Adobe Client Data Layer
[
  {
    "event": "commerce.productListAdds",
    "eventInfo": {
      "eventId": "cart-add-A123",
      "timestamp": "2026-10-29T12:00:00Z"
    },
    "commerce": {
      "productListAdds": {
        "value": 1
      },
      "cart": {
        "cartID": "C123"
      }
    },
    "productListItems": [
      {
        "SKU": "SKU123",
        "quantity": 2
      },
      {
        "SKU": "SKU456",
        "quantity": 1
      }
    ]
  }
]
XDM Mapping
[
  {
    "_id": "cart-add-A123",
    "timestamp": "2026-10-29T12:00:00Z",
    "eventType": "commerce.productListAdds",
    "commerce": {
      "productListAdds": {
        "value": 1
      },
      "cart": {
        "cartID": "C123"
      }
    },
    "productListItems": [
      {
        "SKU": "SKU123",
        "quantity": 2
      },
      {
        "SKU": "SKU456",
        "quantity": 1
      }
    ]
  }
]

SQL Queries

Google Analytics 4 (BigQuery)
-- Bind report_start and report_end as UTC TIMESTAMP parameters.
-- Source action uniqueness and replay-conflict resolution are integration prerequisites.
WITH cart_actions AS (
  SELECT
    (SELECT p.value.string_value FROM UNNEST(event_params) AS p
     WHERE p.key = 'event_id') AS event_id,
    TIMESTAMP_MICROS(event_timestamp) AS action_time,
    (SELECT p.value.string_value FROM UNNEST(event_params) AS p
     WHERE p.key = 'cart_id') AS cart_id
  FROM `{{GA4_PROJECT}}.{{GA4_DATASET}}.events_*`
  WHERE event_name = 'add_to_cart'
    AND _TABLE_SUFFIX BETWEEN
      FORMAT_DATE('%Y%m%d', DATE_SUB(DATE(@report_start), INTERVAL 1 DAY))
      AND FORMAT_DATE('%Y%m%d', DATE_ADD(DATE(@report_end), INTERVAL 1 DAY))
    AND event_timestamp >= UNIX_MICROS(@report_start)
    AND event_timestamp < UNIX_MICROS(@report_end)
)
SELECT event_id, action_time, cart_id
FROM cart_actions
WHERE cart_id IS NOT NULL;
Adobe Experience Platform (AEP Query Service)
-- Substitute report bounds as UTC timestamp literals; use a UTC query session.
-- Source action uniqueness and replay-conflict resolution are integration prerequisites.
SELECT
  _id AS event_id,
  timestamp AS action_time,
  commerce.cart.cartID AS cart_id
FROM {{AEP_EXPERIENCE_EVENT_DATASET}}
WHERE eventType = 'commerce.productListAdds'
  AND timestamp >= CAST('{{REPORT_START_UTC}}' AS TIMESTAMP)
  AND timestamp < CAST('{{REPORT_END_UTC}}' AS TIMESTAMP)
  AND commerce.cart.cartID IS NOT NULL;

Source Data

Digital Analytics, Commerce Platform

Dependencies

Prerequisite: List the dependencies required for this Dimension

Events:

add-to-cart

Report Attributes

Cart ID

Segment Eligibility

Cart ID EXISTS

Governance

Data SensitivityInternal

Governance

Created bydevyendarm
Created on10/29/2026
Last modified bydevyendarm
Last modified on10/31/2026
StatusPUBLISHED

GitHub

View related Pull Requestcatalog/dimensions/cart-id.yml

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