The Strategist

Google switches online shopping on



05/21/2019 - 10:57



16 years ago, Google launched the Froogle service. It allowed users to search for products and compare prices from different vendors. Over the years, Google has evolved from just a successful Internet search engine to a corporation with a huge portfolio of online services. The company's attitude towards online trading has also changed. Froogle first turned into Google Product Search when it was integrated into a search engine, and then into Google Shopping, when sellers had to pay to ensure that their products were included in Google's shopping offers. Finally, in the fall of 2013, the corporation launched its own delivery service, Google Express. Last Tuesday, May 14, 2019, could be the beginning of a new era in the development of the Internet giant.



Solomon203
Solomon203
The corporation has announced re-launch of Google Shopping, which will bring together all the resources and services available to the company that can help users find and buy products. Now Google users will get a common “shopping cart” for several services of the company. It will be displayed in Google Search, Shopping, and later in Images and even on YouTube.

When a user finds the product he needs via the services listed above, he will be able to make a purchase directly to Google, and then either use the Google Express delivery, or pick up the goods in the store, if possible.
In this case, the purchases will be guaranteed by Google in case of buying a wrong product, if the delivery is not completed on time or if problems with the return of funds arise. “These innovations will allow people to choose and buy products without any interference, right where they come to search and inspiration: Search, Google Images, YouTube and updated Google Shopping,” said Google Shopping Vice President Surojit Chatterjee.

Obviously, by updating the Google Shopping service and consolidating all the available resources, the Internet giant is trying to increase the financial returns from previously scattered services and compete with Amazon, the absolute leader in the online commerce market in the US and Europe.
According to various estimates, Jeff Bezos’s company accounts for between 40% and 50% of the online purchases made in the USA.

Google announced the initiative just a few weeks after Facebook decided to enter the online commerce market. Mark Zuckerberg has long been building an independent marketplace from his social network, with groups for buying and selling goods and his own payment system.

According to eMarketer, by the end of 2019, the global online trading market will reach $ 3.5 trillion and will only grow in the coming years.

This is too much money even for giants like Google and Facebook to get around them.

March 19, it was the turn of Instagram. The service announced the “order on Instagram” feature. It allows users to mark products with special tags right on the photo or in the "stories" section. Clicking on this tag, the user sees the product description, its price, and then can select necessary parameters of the product (size, color, if available). After that, he can just click on the "order" button and pay for the goods. As a result, the user carries out the entire process of purchasing goods without leaving the application.

source: techcrunch.com