[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This month from across the pond, Google has announced their newly designed Shopping experience is live in the United States! After launching the new service in France earlier this year, Google has officially rolled out the new layout and the brand-new features to the U.S.
What’s Included in the Redesign:
Options to browse products from local shops, track prices and one of the most stylish new features involves using Google Lens to find fashion inspiration. Google Lens smart image recognition technology already has the capabilities to identify objects, translate text and find similar items but now it can be used directly for Google Shopping.
Google explains these ideas are focused on showing you how other people are wearing the item or outfit, not just returning matches of similar items. Sound familiar? Lens will be challenging Pinterest directly by matching their own image recognition technology. However, Google will be able to capitalise on those users interests better than Pinterest will be able to due to the fact they can convert user’s clicks easily into the checkout process. This is something that Pinterest has found difficult – even with their latest venture of their “shop” tab app to try and improve this.
For example, if you take a photo of an outfit you like on Instagram you can use Google Lens to find similar fashion ideas from the web.
Other New Features Include:
- Price Tracking
Part of the new experience allows users to find the lowest prices if they turn the price tracking feature on. Users will be able to track a product after it has been selected by receiving notifications every time the price has been dropped. This option is a direct challenge to Amazon – who have famously lacked this functionality.
- Buy from Local Stores
The new Google shopping service lets you filter your result so that you can purchase a product from local shops and retailers. Rather than getting a product shipped or delivered elsewhere, you could walk into the store to pick it up.
This feature is like the popular “Click and Collect” service we have in the UK and if Google did launch this feature here, it could prove very popular with both retailers and shoppers. According to Retail Gazette:
“The UK click-and-collect market is predicted to grow to £9.8bn by 2023, a rise of 45.8%”
Surely this opportunity cannot be missed by Google!
- Suggestions
Recommendations and suggestions will be available for users based on their shopping histories, search histories and lists from Google. This will provide the user a more personalised shopping experience based on their own search trends.
- Buy on Google
A noticeable change in the redesign has been described by Google as:
“The merger of the best of Google Express with Google Shopping”
What this essentially means is that users now have the option to make purchases through Google with their payment information stored in their Google account. This is a vital piece of Google’s strategy to push back at Amazon and level the playing field for retailers.
Onefeed’s Thoughts:
This new release of Google Shopping going live in the U.S after trialling it in France is a momentous occasion due to the sheer size of the U.S market. This suggests Google has ambitions to roll out in more countries and markets, inevitably leading us to see these new features in the UK.
This new version is challenging multiple competitors and if a success then Amazon could potentially be hit quite hard. In recent years, Amazon has become the largest online retailer. However, where Google could gain the advantage by capitalising on search traffic and their shoppers complete search history. Combining this with their new Shopping interface could see shoppers turn to Google rather than Amazon for certain items such as fashion and clothing, due to the new technology of Google Lens.
Nevertheless, we have seen Google try and compete with a major player before and fail. Will Google’s new Shopping experience have the same outcome of Google+ when they tried to take on Facebook? Only time will tell!
