Google has released a new product to help online retailers improve product search, increase sales conversions and reduce bounce rates. The product is named Google Commerce and with Christmas arriving seems they have launched it at the right time. Google says “This tool brings the power, speed and flexibility of Googles search technology to your online store to increase sales and usability”.


“Search quality is a big factor in changing visitors to buyers online, and in making customers happy too,” Google says. “Visitors spend an average of just eight seconds before deciding whether or not to remain on a website, so having a good search tool is important for turning visitors into buyers. Google Commerce Search is hosted by and uses Google search technology to make online retail searching both fast and customizable — visitors to your online store can sort by category, price, brand or any other attribute.”

“E-store administrators can highlight special products or connect related ones so searching is easier for their customers,” the company continues. “Google Commerce Search includes a built-in spellchecker and synonyms so if visitors can’t remember exactly how to spell the particular toy or perfume or anything else they’re hunting for, Google Commerce Search will make some suggestions. Choosing the right one is up to them, though.”



“With Google Commerce Search, customers more easily find the specific products they’re looking for, and we’ve seen dramatic conversion improvement since implementation.”- Jeff Kilmer, COO, Birkenstock USA

How it Works

Once you’ve signed up for Google Commerce Search, your site administrator will follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Submit your product data to the Google Merchant Center and Google Product Search. Visit www.google.com/merchants to upload your items via data feeds, direct uploads, or use our API.
Step 2: Customize the look and feel of your on-site search engine. Log into the administrative console to manage product promotions, upload synonym dictionaries, and control parametric search options.
Step 3: Analyze your site’s traffic and search effectiveness. View custom reports on top queries, special feature usage and more.
This does sound great for online retailers but when you look at the price structure I believe most small online retailers will be put off. Prices start from $50,000 (just over £30,000) per year. Im sure those that get in first will benefit but as time goes on it will be interesting to see if Google roll out PPC / sponsored listing product scheme to further increase profits.
Looking at the pricing information the 30K per year is just the starting level costs Google mentions the pricing depends on these factors, the number of products/items in your data feed and the number of search queries entered on your site each year.
This sounds a lot like PPC already.

Posted via email from areatrade’s posterous

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