The talk of Google entering the ecommerce space, particularly in India, has gained some currency through an initiative that the company is about to implement. It is adding a Shopping tag to its searching engine Google along with Images, Maps, News, etc.
If you wish to shop for something and input it in the search box, you can click on the Shopping tag to immediately find where you can buy it and at what price. These could be online, offline or other sources. According to a report in Economic Times, Google has been working on this for a while and will soon pilot it before launching it officially by the end of this year.
Google will recruit the sellers who wish to have their details included in this tag, much like the search engine optimization exercise, where you would take steps to have your site promoted to appear in the top results. Only, Google is offering this service free of cost now.
Observers point out in the ET report that Google’s Shopping tag project is no different from what Amazon did with its Junglee.com in India before it launched its own ecommerce website. Google is on a much stronger wicket and apart from just listing the details of the availability of a product you are searching for, the shopping tag could present to you the information in different ways, based on price or location or other parameters. Google can then weigh in with the data collected through the shopping tag to know customer preferences and use them as and when it has its own ecommerce platform in India.
Google is said to be already in talks with sites like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Paytm Mall to enter into agreements to feature the products and provide links to their sites from the search engine’s site. As mentioned, there is a bank of local kirana stores and other small businesses which already have an arrangement with Google and they will also be roped in.