Google’s collaboration with merchants to increase shopping options

Shopping Graph technology

We live in a time of streamlining and improving the ways people discover, learn about and buy products they like – whether those products come from retail, new direct-to-consumer brands or brick-and-mortar high street stores. Google supports an open network of retailers and shoppers to help companies be open and give people more options when they want to make a purchase. Two specific steps Google has taken to support visibility for all sellers are eliminating commissions and making it free for sellers.

In order to show the most relevant shopping information, Google needs to have a deep understanding of the products that appear directly in it and in the world around it – from images and videos to online reviews and inventory in local stores. That’s why today Google is shedding light on the Shopping Graph technology: the most comprehensive set of real-time data about products, inventory and sellers.

The Shopping Graph is a dynamic, AI-enhanced model that understands an ever-changing set of products, sellers, brands, reviews, and most importantly, product information and assortment data sourced directly from brands and retailers, and that, how these attributes relate to each other. With people shopping on Google more than a billion times a day, the Shopping Graph makes those sessions more rewarding by connecting people to more than 24 billion ads from millions of sellers across the web. It works in real time so people can find and buy products that are available right now.

A deep understanding of global production is only one piece of the puzzle. To help more sellers go public, the support of like-minded partners who share Google’s mission to democratize e-commerce is essential. That’s why Google is expanding its partnership with Shopify today with a new, streamlined process that will allow Shopify’s 1.7 million sellers to list their products on Google in just a few clicks. This new collaboration with Shopify will allow sellers to become available to interested consumers on Google Search, Shopping, YouTube, Google Images and more.

As barriers such as commissions have been removed and the technology has been improved, it has seen a 70% increase in the size of the product catalog and an 80% increase in the number of sellers on the platform. But how exactly do these sellers and their products show up on Google? Search, shopping, image search, and YouTube are popular ways to find and discover products. Today announced even more ways for people to shop every day.

Learn more with a new shopping experience

It’s easy to get inspired just by walking around, looking at a magazine, or writing something down online. That’s why new, more comprehensive shopping conditions have been created to meet you where you already are. For example, one of the most popular ways for people to tag things they like is to take a screenshot, but then it’s not always easy to take action on those screenshots. Now, when you view any screenshot in Google Photos, you’ll be prompted to search for the photo using Lens, allowing you to see search results to help you find that pair of shoes or wallpaper that caught your eye.

Shopping is not always uniform. You may open your browser to make a purchase, but you switch your attention to an email or a news article, or you’re not ready to buy yet. That’s why, along with other new modules in Chrome that help you pick up where you left off, there’s a new feature that works locally on your device so you can see your open baskets when you open a new tab. So when you leave or browse other sites, you can pick up where you left off.

When you’re ready to make a purchase, Google makes it easy to get the best value for the products you buy. Coming soon, updates like linking your favorite loyalty programs from retailers like Sephora to your Google Account to show you the best shopping options, helping brands and their customers maintain stronger, more direct relationships.

Nataliia Hruzska

PPC Specialist

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