Earlier this month, Google launched a series of new features for its Google Shopping platform in the United States, some of which are quite Amazon-style. For years, Google has been playing catch-up to Amazon in e-commerce, just as Amazon has been trying to chip away at Google’s dominance in search advertising.
Data shows that Amazon's growing market share in the advertising search market is eroding Google's main source of revenue. The four new features of Google Shopping will gradually build it into a more complete e-commerce platform and may become a competitor to Amazon.
Four new features of Google Shopping
The new Google Shopping feature first appeared in France earlier this year and is now officially available in the US market. It is understood that the new function leverages Google's advantages as a search engine and focuses on personalizing the user experience to enhance the user's online and offline shopping experience. The four new features are as follows:
Intelligent product recommendation
When users browse the new Google Shopping platform homepage, they will receive personalized product recommendations based on their browser history and browsed/purchased products.
Price Tracking
Users can enable price tracking for any product that catches their eye, and Google Shopping will automatically notify them when a retailer lowers its price.
Local Product Search
Allows users to search for specific retailers or products in their local area.
Buy now
Users can purchase products directly from Google Shopping without having to visit the retailer's website.
These new features change the way people browse and purchase products on Google Shopping, which will benefit consumers and retailers alike.
How do these new features benefit sellers?
Give consumers more personalized recommendations
A BI Intelligence report shows that 49% of consumers buy unexpected items due to Google Shopping’s personalized recommendations; 40% of consumers spend more than expected; and 44% of consumers are likely to become repeat customers. Just as Amazon’s AI-based recommendation engine contributes at least 35% of the company’s total revenue, it shows that intelligent recommendations are a powerful tool for e-commerce platforms.
Google also hopes to launch smart recommendations in Google Shopping and extend it with practical e-commerce functions such as price tracking to enhance the shopping experience of individual consumers. Taking it a step further, Google even connects them with local stores and products.
Give consumers purchase inspiration and stimulate consumption
According to Inviqa research, “10% of millennials said they choose not to shop on Amazon because they don’t necessarily know what they want to buy and it’s hard to find inspiration on Amazon.”
Google’s greatest advantage may be that people turn to Amazon when they have a specific product they want to buy, but go to Google when they want inspiration. Inspiration comes earlier in user acquisition than searching for specific products, which means Google can capture potential Amazon customers and attract them through its new product search feature.
What benefits do these new features bring to sellers?
For sellers, the more convenient Google Shopping platform is also a better sales tool for them. Users can purchase products directly from Google, reducing various frictions. Coupled with enhanced personalization, Google Shopping can continuously stimulate consumer purchase opportunities and prospects, which is a big benefit for sellers.
The new feature updates will also make Google Shopping an even more powerful omnichannel platform for retailers that sell both in-store and online. Because consumers can now buy products directly from Google, users can still click through to merchant websites and find their local stores by searching for their product or brand name.
This can provide more sales opportunities for retail brands that cannot be found on Amazon. In addition, stronger competition between Google Shopping and Amazon will force the platforms to innovate and help lower advertising prices, which is also good news for sellers.
