Following the website and mobile apps, the new Google Shopping is officially available in the U.S. This is Google’s new unified service for product lookup and delivery, with Google Lens also picking up a “style ideas” feature today.
Earlier this week, Google detailed how Express would soon be replaced by Shopping. This transition is now underway with “Google Express” for Android becoming “Google Shopping” with the latest Play Store update.
After launching Google Shopping a few weeks ago, the company is looking to further consolidate its online shopping experiences. In the “next few weeks,” Google Express will be shut down as it integrates with Shopping.
Announced at Google Marketing Live in May, the new Google Shopping homepage is live in the United States. Focussed on personalization and browsing, this experience has been in testing around the world since last year.
Late last year, a revamped Google Shopping was unveiled in India before rolling out to France in March. Alongside ads in the Discover feed, Google at Marketing Live announced the new Google Shopping experience that combines Google Express for a seamless buying experience.
The online shopping space is dominated by Amazon, which is increasingly expanding to physical locations with Whole Foods, stores, and pickup lockers. Retailers like Target and Walmart are building out online services, while Google has a competing solution. A new report today reveals a rebrand of Google Express to Google Shopping, while better leveraging YouTube.
Late last year, Google announced a new Shopping experience and homepage that first launched in India. The Google Shopping site has now been spotted in France with its new icon, Material Theme design, and personalized focus.
Shopping is an important area for Google in light of major competition from Amazon. The company has worked to simplify voice shopping on Google Home, add style search to Lens, and expand its Express delivery service. Google Shopping today is getting a new home page, starting in India.
Google Search is useful for finding results, but on the flip side, the number of users searching allow for clear trends to emerge. Google has compiled that data for the 2018 holiday shopping season and notes the top toys, books, and tech.
In recent months, Google has been making inroads back into the Chinese market through various deals and investments. The latest involves a strategic partnership with JD․com — China’s second largest e-commerce company — to the tune of $550 million.
In time for Black Friday, a number of product and shopping-related features are rolling out to Google. Search on all platforms is adding useful info to knowledge panels about products, as well as spec and comparison tools.
Following a massive anti-trust case from the European Union, Google announced yesterday that it was making some big changes to shopping advertisements in search results.
Google has been involved in a massive antitrust legal battle with the European Union for the past few months and recently, it was handed the largest fine ever for its “Google Shopping” services. Today, Bloomberg is reporting that Google will split off that service in order to meet demands from that case.
The European Commission has levied its highest ever fine in an antitrust case, ruling that Google must pay €2.42B ($2.72B) for favoring its own shopping comparison service in search results. This is far higher than the €1B fine expected.
Further fines – equivalent to 5% of parent company Alphabet’s daily worldwide turnover – will apply unless Google resolves the issue within 90 days …
We’re guessing most of us here do as much shopping as possible online, but for those unavoidable store visits, Google has published some infographics showing you the dates and times you want to be a long, long way from them.
Unsurprisingly, consumer electronics stores are busiest on Black Friday, but if you’re determined to snag that bargain despite the crowds, the time you really want to avoid is 2-4pm …
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Google is giving Ol’ St. Nicholas a run for his money this holiday season because it ALSO knows what people want for the holidays. Rather than getting mail in the North Pole however, Google gets its data via its popular search engine. In data from its Trends platform, it has determined the top trending toys, devices and apparel searches on Google Shopping. An overview from the Commerce blog:
But the most important data they pulled, especially if you are a clueless father like myself, is the top 10 Kids’ gifts list. Without further ado, in order:
3. Paw Patrol
4. Lego Friends
5. Ouija Board
6. Peppa Pig
7. Shopkins
8. Nerf Guns
10. Zoomer Dino
Any of this hitting home?
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If you want to check out what deals are available online before you hit the stores on Black Friday, Google has just made the task a little easier with revamped Google Shopping results.
Google Shopping results now include more detailed product information, customer reviews and show which stores have it in stock. Selected products also have 360-degree views …
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In a blog post, Google today announced that it is adding product ratings to its Product Listing Ads within searches. The stars will come from a variety of reviews and sources, including merchants, third-party review sites, users, and more. Google says that adding product ratings to its Listing Ads within searches will drive higher traffic through these ads. The company claims that this change also helped increase click-through rates of Product Listing Ads in early testing.
We believe these ratings will help differentiate products across google.com and google.com/shopping and will help merchants drive more qualified traffic through Product Listing Ads. In initial tests, product ratings also helped increase click-through-rates of Product Listing Ads.
Google is taking a step towards advancing its e-commerce business, by purchasing London-based Rangespan, which has developed a unique tech that helps retailers forecast products and services that will be high in demand in the future.
A message on Rangespan’s website confirmed the buyout today. “We are very happy to announce that Rangespan is joining Google,” the company wrote. “We will continue to work on services for shoppers and retailers at Google, and we’re super excited about the opportunities to come. As part of the change, we will wind down Rangespan’s services. We’ve already begun working individually with each of our retailers and suppliers on this process.”
Back in November of 2012, Google acquired the then 2-year old startup BufferBox. BufferBox was a service that provided customers with temporary lockers in certain locations to accept packages at from online retailers. At the time of the acquisition, Google said that BufferBox would “keep doing BufferBox,” but today, Google has announced that it is shutting the service down.
The BufferBox team now says it will work to “bring the learnings, technology and expertise of the team to future Google Shopping products.”
For those that are BufferBox customers, the company says it will stop accepting packages on March 31st, 2014 and that the last day to pickup packages is April 21, 2014. More details can be found on BufferBox’s FAQ page.
Since being acquired by Google, BufferBox has spread from its home Waterloo, Ontario to other cities such as San Francisco. We can only assume that Google will still continue to expand the self-serve pickup idea, but without the BufferBox branding.
Photo: npr.org
After more than three years of investigations and negotiations, Google and the European Union anti-trust authorities have finally settled the case in which the company was accused of abusing its dominant position in search.
The tl;dr version of the dispute was that Google search results were giving undue prominence to its own services – such as Google News and Google Shopping – and freezing out rivals. Google was eventually given a deadline of 31st January last year to submit proposals on how it would resolve the problem …
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Google today announced some nice additions to its Google Shopping service available to users browsing for products in Google search and directly through the Google Shopping site on desktop and mobile. In addition to new curated shopping lists from some of its partners (note: These are Google’s partners buying paid product listing ads), Google Shopping also receives an updated look and feel, part of an ongoing update that Google started rolling out back in October with an updated storefront and improved local listings.
One new feature in the redesigned shopping experience pictured above is the ability create your own shortlists that are easily accessible from the top of each page while browsing:
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Google just announced that it’s rolling out Google Shopping– a.k.a paid product listing ads that appear in search results– in eight new countries. Starting today, Google users in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Turkey will be begin seeing what Google says are highly relevant ads that also include “rich product information” like images and pricing.
The Product Listing Ads appear in Google Search results as ‘Sponsored’ listings for queries that include “commercial intent.” But Google notes that it will also show product listings when it has “enough relevant products to match that user’s query.”
Users in the countries mentioned above should begin seeing the ads above text ads on the right side of search results starting today.
Google just acquired marketing firm Channel Intelligence for $125 million in cash, according to a press release issued by the company’s parent company ICG Group (via BusinessInsider). The press release said the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year after passing the usual regulatory process.
As for what Google wants from the acquisition, Channel Intelligence said on its website that it “tracks online retail sales for a variety of verticals including computing, home improvement, appliances, consumer electronics, toys and other consumer packaged goods.” It also said that it makes “it easy for consumers to find and buy products online.” We can only speculate what Google will do with the technology, but we imagine it would play a role in the company’s ads and shopping businesses.
In an announcement on the Channel Intelligence website, the company noted it has “worked with Google for years” as a featured Google Shopping launch partner with a technology that helps to “maximize sales and Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) with Product Listing Ads (PLAs)”:
A featured Google Shopping launch partner, CI has developed a technology to help merchants maximize sales and Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) with Product Listing Ads (PLAs), which has become an increasingly important channel for merchants… CI excels at product feed optimization and product data is paramount for Google Shopping. The CI Managed Services team also employs unique Product Bidding methods to further enhance Google Shopping (PLA) performance; helping retailers generate qualified consumer visits and profitable product sales.
We are pleased to announce that Channel Intelligence (CI) has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Google!
For over ten years, we have focused on making it easy for consumers to find and buy products online and help our clients grow their business. We’ve worked with Google for years, and look forward to the great things we will be able to do together.
All CI services will continue to offer the excellent client service and great performance that our clients have come to expect over the years.
The CI Team
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