As the pandemic has brought a great fear among people, most of them tend to buy everything online. There are more than one billion shopping sessions happening all over Google every single day. This pandemic has increased the number of customers buying online rather than going into a local store.
“At Google, we’re working on more ways to bridge the connection between retailers and consumers, so that retailers can build direct and lasting relationships with their customers.”; –Google
Google keeps finding more ways to connect both sellers and the customers which will help sellers find potential customers and customers will be able to find genuine sellers. This will lead to a healthy relationship.
Earlier, Google announced that they are integrating with Shopify to connect the merchants and the customers across the platform. Now Google has planned on adding more branches to the tree including merchants from Woocommerce, GoDaddy and Square. This integration will help retailers sell across Google and for free of cost.
This integration will help users purchase out of numerous choices and the sellers will have more chances for their products to be discovered on the giant platform.
The revolution in shopping has completely changed and we have stepped into a new era of shopping where people can buy out of voice commands and images or live videos.
“As this generational shift to e-commerce accelerates, having a digital presence is just the minimum – it’s now imperative for you as a retailer to stand out and speak directly to your customers.” –Google
Google has also informed that in the Marketing Live, they will be announcing a new tool that will help retailers and brands from the point they get discovered until checkout.
Highlight why customers should choose your brand
As a customer there are many choices; in fact, there are thousands and thousands of products for a single keyword across Search, Shopping, Images, Maps and YouTube. From that thousands, how can you make a customer choose you?
Google has given a solution to this problem, Google has given you new methods to get hold of the customers among thousands of sellers. Google is planning to give a view to how your brand products appear on Google via videos, rich lifestyle imageries and interactive story format without costing you anything.
Here is an example of how sellers can showcase their products using videos. This will also help customers gain more clarity about what they buy. The products can be described or used in the video and by clicking the video the customers will be able to buy the product just by a swipe, a piece of cake.
Google has been gathering feedback regarding business attribute and earlier this year Google launch the Black-owned business attribute and following that Google will be soon introducing new identity attributes that include the women-led attribute.
“Nine in 10 shoppers say they spend more or the same on beauty products online than before the pandemic, according to a PowerReviews Survey. What if you could use digital to offer the kinds of “hands-on” experiences that inspire consumers in real life? We launched an AR (augmented reality) makeup kit try-on experience for lipstick and eye shadow, and soon consumers will be able to find that perfectly matching foundation, from brands like L’Oreal and Estee Lauder.” ;-Google
These days try on has become the most common word among shopping industries. For instance, many brands allow users to visual try on and select option so that customers will be able to buy what they want. Many makeup industries help customers choose the desired shades or colors using their front camera or through an image of the customers. This trend has rolled into the clothing industry as well. To make it available for all the sellers’ Google is allowing brands to use the AR apparel experience. This will help customers choose the desired choice using this try-on feature. This can be a benefit for the seller to reach more customers.
When a customer gets attracted to your products they are more likely to become loyal customers.
Google is also planning to pilot the merchant loyalty program into selling. When a seller provides special loyalty pricing, free shipping and much more Google takes this into account and will be highlighted to the customer at the time of shopping on Google.
Google allows customers to create loyalty account by simply creating one. If a customer already has a loyalty account then the link will be added to the Google account.
Here is an example of how Sephora Beauty Insider works,
Branding and better deals have been playing a major role in the shopping sectors. Nowadays people have been making more searches on discount codes, this search term has increased by 50% compared to the previous year. This will be a good factor to highlight when a customer searches for a product.
Google has also informed that they will be making it easier for the customers to discover brand promotions, especially during season time. This will be added in the form of a tab named under deals on the result page on the search and shopping tab.
Google is also planning to bring in real-time deal optimization report in the merchant centre.
Flexible Checkout options
Due to the pandemic, many feel scared of going outside and find it more comfortable getting their products delivered right at their door-step, this includes the method of payment as well.
Over the past year, people have been making searches if products that are available closer to them (near me) and curbside pickup these key terms have been mostly searched and the term “in stock” search has been increased by 800% year after year.
Google has offered to show customers the method of buying products whether to buy it from a store nearby or online. The local inventory Google Ads allow customers to check products that are available for an immediate store pickup or curbside pickup or pick up later.
The curbside pickup and in-store shopping options are now available on YouTube and Maps local Ads. This will help the customers reach the nearest sellers.
Google is also planning to help brands to sell their products in various ways.
“When a customer discovers your products on Google, they’ll see a summary of all the buying options you offer in one place. Whether it’s your e-commerce site, nearby store, or Google’s native checkout flow, this new cohesive format will make shopping easier for customers who expect convenience, and help you neatly showcase your brand’s expanded Omni channel offerings. Coming soon, merchants will have the option to enable Shop Pay as a buying option, giving their customers more options for an easy checkout experience.” ;-Google
Google has not yet rolled out this feature for YouTube as it is under the testing stage on the search and shopping tab. Once the testing is over Google has planned to roll it to YouTube and Google Images.
Coming to an end, Google keeps trying to bring customers and brands together to build a better future for the e-commerce sector. When that is done we will be able to find unique and valuable products, best services, stories showcased on top of the searches results on the SERP.
