With an increasing push toward a mobile marketplace, Google recently revealed their latest plan to compete with big retailers like Amazon and eBay: “buy” buttons.
The online market is constantly changing, and the retailers that keep up reap the benefits. If their plan succeeds, Google will offer customers viable alternatives to buy online. Smaller retailers who can’t hope to compete with Amazon have a chance with Google.
Here’s how it works:
In order to make advertisers’ paid listings more effective, a “buy” button will appear next to certain listings in a Google search. After clicking it, shoppers will be brought to a Google product page to complete their transaction. The page will let them make size and shipping choices before they pay.
Google is not opening warehouses and becoming an actual retailer. According to them, they will not even take a cut of the products sold this way, and there will be no additional fee for the buy option. Google only hopes to direct more sales to its partners.
The future: mobile shopping
Multiple studies have shown an increased trend toward buying through phones and tablets. As mobile devices become an easier and more viable way to shop online, mobile shopping is expected to see major growth in the coming years.
When the buy button is initially integrated, it will only appear on mobile devices. And while it may eventually move to the desktop, it will always be focused on phones and tablets. Google hopes to further promote mobile shopping.
Many customers prefer not to submit payment information through a phone or tablet. Not only are some mobile sites slower to load than others, but are often not mobile-friendly at all. Rather than struggle to click tiny buttons and type in long payment information, most customers decide to buy on Amazon instead, where payment info is already linked to their account.
Google will offer customers an easy, mobile-friendly way to make purchases online by allowing customers to link payment info to a Google account. Businesses who take advantage of advertising through Google are sure to convert more customers.
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So how can this help your dealership?
If you advertise with Google, you’ll benefit from their new buy button, too—it’s yet another way for customers to reach you. Google will not only promote the parts you’re selling online, they’ll also simplify the buying process for your customers.
If you haven’t used Google Product Listing Ads (PLA) before, there isn’t a better time to start than now, especially with the potential buy button coming around the corner. RevolutionParts helps our dealers setup their product feeds with Google and automatically update the ads when parts are discontinued or prices change!
