Google Inc. is now looking to give Amazon.com a run for its money. The company is looking to introduce e-commerce features, including a “buy” button to Google Shopping. Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has talked to retailers about this new buy button that it wishes to launch. As of now, the Google Shopping application redirects shoppers to the retailer website.
Google Inc.’s rollout would be a lot like Amazon’s buy-button feature. This feature allows shoppers to enter their credit card number and delivery information once so as to make purchases at present and in the future.
By introducing the “buy” button, Google Inc. will prevent Amazon.com, the current e-commerce giant, from eating the lion’s share of the e-commerce market. This is a long-term strategy on Google’s part to beat Amazon. Over the several years of Amazon’s reign as the king of e-commerce, people have grown accustomed to perform shopping searches on Amazon or searching for their shopping needs on Google, which redirected them to Amazon.com. If Google introduces the buy button that it is planning, the users could immediately order what they need instead of going to a website that provided them with the facility. Soon, the traffic would be directed away from Amazon.com as Google searches would first provide Google Shopping links instead.
Google is considering a marketing plan that would allow its partnering merchants to promote products through Google Shopping that could be shipped in two days. The Amazon Prime consumers still have the upper hand – they can get one-day deliveries. Google Shopping will not be able to top that right now. With two-day delivery, however, Google Shopping will be able to compete with other e-shopping services. This October, Google launched an Express delivery service, that delivers in one day. The service costs $95 per year and is only available to the U.S. customers.
Reportedly, the retailers have not been particularly cordial to Google’s offerings. So the perception may never become reality. Retailers are afraid that such a new system would increase the price competition and retailers would not be able to control the shopping experiences of the customers. If Google does roll out its buy button, it will be able to get data about the conversion of ads into sales. This will increase the advertising prices.
According to a Google spokesperson, the company will not indulge in commenting on speculations or rumors. Consequently, Google was not available for comment.
CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, previously also described Amazon as their largest rival company. Google users just bypass Google and go straight to Amazon.com in order to fulfill their shopping needs. In the third quarter, it was seen that 39% of the e-shoppers began searching for a product on Amazon.com instead of Google.com. Meanwhile, 11% of the e-shoppers first went to Google.com and then other retailer’s websites.
In 2009, 18% of the e-shoppers began searching with Amazon while 28% began with search engines. In short, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGLv) has a long way to go in order to beat Amazon at its own game.
