Google Nov. 15 refreshed its Google Product Search service, Google Shopper App, and added popular products and aisle tabs in time for Black Friday.
Google Nov. 15 unveiled an improved Google Product Search service,
partnering with retail giants such as Best Buy and Williams-Sonoma to surface
goods for online shoppers who are nearby.
The search engine partnered with more than 70 retailers and software makers
such as Oracle, JDA and Epicor to index inventory of local Best Buys and other
outlets. The software makers provide special adapters to funnel retailers'
inventory data to Google Product Search.
For example, consumers searching Google Product Search for products can
click the "nearby stores" link to see where it's in stock at
participating stores near their location. Then they can purchase it online or
drive to that store to size up the product to better decide if they want to buy
it.
The idea is to save shoppers time from calling or driving to stores to check
product availability, a boon as the holiday season prepares for the Black
Friday shopping dirge Nov. 26.
While searchers can't buy the goods from Google.com they way they can go to
Amazon.com and buy products directly from that e-commerce Website, they can get
a better handle on what local shops have in store. Amazon.com doesn't help with
the local shopping experience in this manner.
Google offers an example of a Canon camera in this blog post
here, while Search Engine
Land features a detailed
run-through
here.
Google also extended this product search capability to the mobile phone with
Google Shopper, which helps shoppers driving around comparison-shop for
merchandise with their Android phones and find the best place to buy them
online or in a store nearby.
People use
Shopper by calling up the app on their Android phone and
pointing their phone's camera at books, CDs, DVDs and video games, along with
most barcodes, to get search results about those items on Google.
The new Google Shopper 1.3 app employs new search filters such as
"price" and "brand" to help users refine their search,
accompanying the existing local availability, voice search and barcode scanning
capabilities to get product info online.
Finally, Google said it aped brick and mortar stores with two new features
called "popular products" and "aisles" to help people
discover new products and get details about them.
A user searching for "camera lenses" on Google Product Search will
surface the lenses other people are finding online. "Aisles" helps
users check out products by organizing results into subcategories others have
found helpful.
"For example, if you're looking for a new TV, you can choose between
display types like LCD and plasma. If you're interested in camera lenses for
that brand new SLR, you can shop by the
aperture of the lens," said Sameer Samat, director of product management
for Google Product Search.
Google's Product Search upgrades come nearly three months after the search
engine
purchased visual search engine Like.com, which helps people
match clothes and other apparel online and purchase them from retailers.
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