Whether you are looking to buy a power tool or neon jeans online,
chances are you start your search on Google or Amazon.com. But which
one?
Behind the scenes, the two companies are waging a war to become the pre-eminent online mall. And e-commerce sites large and small are caught in the cross-fire. As for consumers, the question is whether they will see a full range of products available online.
Google is a search engine, not a store, but it is increasingly inching into e-commerce with products like its comparison-shopping service, Google Shopping. At the same time, more people are using Amazon, a retailer, as a search engine to look for what they want to buy.
Trying to stave off the competition from Amazon, Google has recently changed Google Shopping to require e-commerce companies to pay to be included in shopping results, so product listings are now ads. Inclusion used to be free.
Google says the change will improve its shopping results because retailers are more likely to list accurate and up-to-date items if they are paying. It says the service had become polluted with product listings that were out of date or misled consumers about things like shipping prices.
By requiring retailers to pay for listings, “incentives are aligned to make sure the data we’re receiving is of a higher quality,” said Sameer Samat, vice president for product management for Google Shopping, which used to be called Google Product Search and, before that, Froogle. “With better data, we can build a better experience for users.”
Although some retailers agree, and say the move could even help their sales, others are panicking. Some say they will not pay for listings or will include fewer products, which could shrink the selection shoppers see on Google.
The move is a way for Google to make more money from retailers, some of its most lucrative advertisers, but it also needs to improve product listings to keep valuable customers from going to Amazon.
“Google and Amazon both have the same end goal, to be the destination that people go to to do their product searches, and Amazon’s winning that battle,” said Michael Griffin, founder and chief technology officer of Adlucent, which does search marketing for online retailers and formerly managed Amazon’s paid search.
The shift to paid listings on Google Shopping began this summer and will be complete this fall. It is part of Google’s expanding e-commerce playbook, which also includes Wallet for payments, Offers for daily deals and the Google Shopper mobile app for finding items nearby.
Behind the scenes, the two companies are waging a war to become the pre-eminent online mall. And e-commerce sites large and small are caught in the cross-fire. As for consumers, the question is whether they will see a full range of products available online.
Google is a search engine, not a store, but it is increasingly inching into e-commerce with products like its comparison-shopping service, Google Shopping. At the same time, more people are using Amazon, a retailer, as a search engine to look for what they want to buy.
Trying to stave off the competition from Amazon, Google has recently changed Google Shopping to require e-commerce companies to pay to be included in shopping results, so product listings are now ads. Inclusion used to be free.
Google says the change will improve its shopping results because retailers are more likely to list accurate and up-to-date items if they are paying. It says the service had become polluted with product listings that were out of date or misled consumers about things like shipping prices.
By requiring retailers to pay for listings, “incentives are aligned to make sure the data we’re receiving is of a higher quality,” said Sameer Samat, vice president for product management for Google Shopping, which used to be called Google Product Search and, before that, Froogle. “With better data, we can build a better experience for users.”
Although some retailers agree, and say the move could even help their sales, others are panicking. Some say they will not pay for listings or will include fewer products, which could shrink the selection shoppers see on Google.
The move is a way for Google to make more money from retailers, some of its most lucrative advertisers, but it also needs to improve product listings to keep valuable customers from going to Amazon.
“Google and Amazon both have the same end goal, to be the destination that people go to to do their product searches, and Amazon’s winning that battle,” said Michael Griffin, founder and chief technology officer of Adlucent, which does search marketing for online retailers and formerly managed Amazon’s paid search.
The shift to paid listings on Google Shopping began this summer and will be complete this fall. It is part of Google’s expanding e-commerce playbook, which also includes Wallet for payments, Offers for daily deals and the Google Shopper mobile app for finding items nearby.
No comments:
Post a Comment