Google Shopping relaunch
Briefing
Google Shopping is being relaunched to make it a more personalised, unified and user-friendly experience.
Google have rolled this out in initially in US and France, with the UK to come in Q1 2020.
This isn’t a small change - it’s a substantial step up to enable Shopping to continue competing with Amazon. It is aimed at driving higher conversion rates and at increasing the amount of searches and length of time spent in Shopping.
We believe this change will combine Amazon’s personalisation with Google’s ability to match search queries with revenue driving ads and products.
Google have added four key areas of functionality
Personalised product recommendations - products are suggested to consumers and will surface to those Google thinks are likely to buy.
Price tracking - consumers will be able to track price drops and be alerted when items they are watching drop in price.
Local product search - increasing the strength of localisation, enabling users to search for particular items or shops in their local area.
Instant in-app purchase - Shopping will be integrated with other Google products (YouTube, Images, Search) with a universal cart, enabling customers to complete a purchase more easily.
More Key Details
On the web, the Shopping homepage will reflect the changes.
In app, the current Google Express app will become an all purpose Google Shopping app.
Existing Showcase Ads and Shopping Actions (for Google Assistant) will expand across Google products.
In-store pick-up options - currently a beta for US, details to be confirmed.
Opportunities
This move is a big step in the existing direction of travel. Retailers need to ensure that their feed management and optimisation is dynamic and able to respond to conversion data.
Building on our existing expertise in consulting with feeds and working with our partners on feed provision, Kinase is now offering a full set of Feed Consultancy and Feed Management services. Drop us a line if you’re interested in this - it could start with a basic free Feed Audit.
Next Steps
Kinase will continue to keep its clients briefed on Shopping opportunities and requirements.
This is a big and positive change coming soon which should be good for both consumers and advertisers - and we wanted to brief you on it ahead of the launch.
We will keep you up to date with new developments, including firm UK launch dates and changes to Shopping feed and t & c requirements.
