Google: From search engine to marketing platform... to marketplace!

Google: From search engine to marketing platform… to marketplace!

Last week an anonymous author at the Wall Street Journal announced that Google is planning on adding a “buy” button to its product ads, allowing shoppers to purchase products directly on Google’s search results pages. This news spread widely and everyone has kept their eyes glued for more info.

At a technology conference held in California on Wednesday, Google’s Chief Business Officer, Omid Kordestani, reportedly confirmed this claim, adding that this buy button will follow “imminently”.


 

Once the button is clicked, shoppers will be redirected to a Google product page, where they can complete their transaction, including payment processing. Google will then send the order information to the relevant retailer.

Having said that, a key difference is that Google will reportedly not earn a percentage off the purchase but plans to continue with their current per-click payment scheme, where retailers/ advertisers only pay for the click on their product ad.

The aim is to make it easier for people to buy things online so that online sales increase. The feature is going to be rolled out on mobile devices, to begin with. This may be linked to the recent urge for mobile-optimized sites, spurred on by Google’s change in algorithm.

How strong is Amazon’s hold on its customers? Will its reliability pay off or will curiosity for the Google world be a trade-off? How will this affect the retailer-customer relationship? How will smaller shops cope? Will there be an increase in CPC?  What’s next on Google’s agenda?

All these are questions that only time knows the answer to.

Stay tuned.

(source: bbc.com)

 

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