A new program has been launched by Google and it’s called Shopping Actions which permits users to buy products via Google search and Google Assistant.
People going shopping can now save their payment credentials and buy stuff with prompt checkout through Google search, Google Express shopping service, and Google Assistant on their home devices or smartphones. Sellers in turn give Google a portion of the profit from every transaction. This is different from the ad payments retailers make to Google for sponsored listings, Google doesn’t get paid until retailers make sales.
According to Google, if someone ordered for a commodity on Google search, it will be added to Google Express cart and if he/she orders something else on Google Home, both items will be added to the same cart and bought together via a “Google-hosted checkout flow.”
Companies like Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco Wholesale, 1-800-FLOWERS, and Ulta Beauty are signed on for the service. Although, Target and Ulta have been testing it out for months.
This new program was started after the mobile searches asking where to buy products rose by 85% since the past 2 years, according to Google in a blog post. Though, in spite of increase in searches, people end up buying from Amazon.
Google is currently encouraging companies to see it as an ally against Amazon. Google’s president for shopping and retail, Daniel Alegre said, “We have taken a fundamentally different approach from the likes of Amazon because we see ourselves as an enabler of retail…We see ourselves as part of a solution for retailers to be able to drive better transactions.”
Quality differences such as delivery costs and speed, ease of use, and any final product price differences will determine whether users and retailers will choose between Google and Amazon. It also depends on whether Shopping Actions will be a “seamless shopping experience” like retailers and Google hope it will be.
