Google Commerce

Connect your loyalty programs, offers and more to Google Wallet with the Wallet Objects API

2013-05-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Consumers want access to all of their loyalty cards, offers, and more on their smartphone. An average household has 18 loyalty cards but use less than half of these cards regularly because of the inconvenience. And the same goes for tickets, membership cards and other items.

With this vision in mind, we are announcing the Google Wallet Objects API. As a developer, this platform enables you to:

Save anything to Google Wallet: Integrate your loyalty programs, offers and more into Google Wallet. Users can save these items directly to their Google Wallet for easy use.
Drive customer engagement with loyalty and offers: Showcase your brand, acquire users and engage them through instant loyalty sign-up, real-time updates and offers.
Benefit from the broader Google ecosystem: With Google's location services, your users get timely notifications about their saved Wallet objects. Additionally, with a simple upgrade path to Google Offers, you can distribute your offers across Google properties — including Adwords, the Google Display Network and Google Maps for Mobile — and benefit from Google's targeting capabilities.

Integration is easy, and you can work with one of our partners to make it even easier. Partners that provide tools to speed integration include Accelitec, Blackhawk, Loyalty Lab, Paytronix, ProfitPoint, Urban Airship and Vibes.

We would also like to thank our partners that have already started integrating with the Wallet Objects API. These include Alaska Airlines, Belly, BillGuard, The Body Shop, BJs Restaurants, Raley's, Red Mango, Marriott Rewards and RetailMeNot. Attendees at Google I/O can see demo loyalty integrations from Alaska Airlines and The Body Shop, and offers integration from RetailMeNot.

We plan to launch these loyalty programs, offers and more to consumers as soon as we can. In the meantime, if you're a merchant or developer, you can learn more, sign up and start building innovative capabilities for your consumers.

Posted by Pali Bhat, Group Product Manager, Google Wallet

Send money to friends with Gmail and Google Wallet

2013-05-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

Paying back your friends is now as simple as sending an email, whether you're chipping in for lunch or reimbursing your roommate for your share of the rent.

Google Wallet is now integrated with Gmail, so you can quickly and securely send money to friends and family directly within Gmail — even if they don't have a Gmail address. It's free to send money if your bank account is linked to Google Wallet or using your Google Wallet balance, and low fees apply to send money using your linked credit or debit card.

To send money in Gmail, hover over the attachment paperclip, click the $ icon to attach money to your message, enter the amount you wish to send, and press send.

While sending money in Gmail is currently only available on desktop, you can send money from Google Wallet at wallet.google.com from your phone or laptop. You will need to have set up Google Wallet to send and receive money, and Google Wallet Purchase Protection covers you 100% against eligible unauthorized payments.

We're rolling out this feature over the coming months to all U.S. Gmail users over 18 years old, so keep an eye out for the $ icon in the attachment options. You can also get earlier access if your friends have the feature and send money to you.

To learn more, visit our website.

Posted by Travis Green, Product Manager, Google Wallet

Fast and easy checkout for Android apps selling physical goods and services

2013-05-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

Shopping for physical goods on mobile devices is a difficult experience for consumers, leading to 97% of mobile shoppers abandoning their shopping carts. Last October, we launched a Google Wallet API to speed up payments on mobile sites. Today, we are inviting U.S. developers to sign up for our new Google Wallet Instant Buy Android API, which makes buying in native Android apps fast and easy.

The Instant Buy API is designed for merchants and developers selling physical goods and services, who already have a payment processor and are looking to simplify the checkout experience for their customers. Developers selling digital goods within their apps will continue to use Google Play In-app Billing, which offers full payment processing capability, including support for carrier billing and gift cards.

The Instant Buy API provides Android developers with these important benefits:

Fast checkout for Android users buying physical goods. Users who buy on Google properties have set up Google Wallet. They can now checkout in Android apps in as few as 2 clicks without having to manually enter their billing or shipping information. Google Wallet securely sends this information to the developer with the user's permission.
Easy app registration. More logged in users. By implementing Google+ Sign-in along with Instant Buy, developers can enable users to sign-in directly with their Google account, instantly creating an app registration. Having more logged in users allows developers to deliver a highly engaging, personalized experience.
More secure payments. All transactions are monitored for fraud 24/7 and covered by Google Wallet Purchase Protection to enable a safer shopping experience for your customers.
Easy integration. No Google fees. Since Google is not processing payments or managing fulfillment, there are no additional fees or complex integrations.

Apps integrated with Google Wallet will require the latest version of Google Play Services, which is rolling out to all Android devices in the next day or so.

We'd like to thank our launch partners for integrating early and helping us create a great checkout experience for Android users:

Airbnb lets you list, discover, and book unique accommodations worldwide.
Booking.com is your key to the best deals on hotels, apartments, and more in over 41,000 destinations.
Expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they are looking for. One traveler at a time.
Fancy allows you to discover and buy goods from a crowd-curated catalog.
GoPago live POS allows merchants to broadcast their business to customer smartphones, enabling customers to browse, order, and pay in advance.
NFC Task Launcher lets you build macros on your phone that respond to your NFC, WiFi, and Bluetooth triggers.
Priceline helps you book the best prices on hotels when you're on the go.
Rue La La is the destination for the most desired brands and curated Boutiques at Members-only prices.
Tabbedout lets you pay your restaurant or bar tab securely with your phone.
Uber gets you a ride with a tap of a button. Request a pickup at your location, track your driver's progress, and pay seamlessly in-app.
Wrapp lets you give free and paid gift cards from your top brands.

To learn more, please visit our Google Wallet for Business site. For the latest updates on Google Wallet please subscribe to our +Page.

Posted by Prakash Hariramani, Senior Product Manager, Google Wallet

Updated Google Shopping feed specification

2013-05-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

Last year, we announced the rollout of the new Google Shopping commercial model built on Product Listing Ads both in the United States and globally. We believe these changes, and the improved user experience, will create new opportunities for merchants and help retailers of all sizes attract more customers to their stores.

The quality of data provided by merchants is critical for achieving these goals. Therefore, we're announcing some changes to the Google Shopping Feed Specification:

We are improving our support for merchant-defined multipack. For example, many consumer products like toothpaste are sold in custom multipacks. The feed specification now clarifies how such products should be submitted.
We are moving towards a world with high-resolution displays. Therefore, we are also starting to recommend higher-quality images with at least 800 pixels in height and width to give users a better visual representation of advertised products.
Some products like custom goods, vintage items, or collectibles don't have unique product identifiers. For such products, we are now introducing the 'identifier exists' attribute. Additionally, we have updated our requirements on unique product identifiers.
We have updated our guidance for the description and color attributes to make them more precise and actionable.
We now provide dedicated support for energy efficiency labels and unit pricing for merchants targeting countries in the European Union and Switzerland.
Merchants promoting non-family safe items on family-safe websites can now tag individual items as non-family safe.

Some of these changes won't be visible to Google Shopping users immediately. We want to give merchants enough time for preparation and adoption. We encourage merchants to use the test feeds feature or the feed debugger to ensure that their updated feeds can be processed correctly.

Merchants can review the new feed specifications and a summary of attribute requirements to help prepare for these changes. They should always make sure to comply with legal requirements while participating in the Google Shopping program.

Enforcement of new Google Shopping Feed Specifications

For accounts that are currently exempted from requiring unique product identifiers, Google Shopping will start enforcing these new requirements for unique product identifiers on July 15th, 2013 in the US, and September 16th, 2013 in all other target countries. Enforcement for all other accounts will start July 15th, 2013 for the US, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and September 16th, 2013 for all other target countries. Non-compliant items might then be disapproved and disappear from Google Shopping.

Account level exemptions for unique product identifiers won’t be supported after the above mentioned dates – the 'identifier exists' attribute should be used instead.

Posted by Angelika Rohrer, Program Manager, Google Shopping

Introducing the Google Wallet Mobile ATM

2013-04-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

While payments are going digital, we realize that some daily consumer interactions will still require cash. So today, we’re excited to announce the release of the Google Wallet Mobile ATM.

The mobile ATM device easily attaches to most smartphones and dispenses money instantly and effortlessly– forever ending your search for the nearest bank or ATM. Just type in your personal pin code on your cell phone and access all your cash from the palm of your hand.

The Google Wallet Mobile ATM technology allows you to enter the amount of money you want to withdraw directly in your phone or use voice-activated dispenser.

Unlike traditional ATM’s, the Google Wallet Mobile ATM even dispenses rare two and fifty dollar bills, as well as more practical one dollar bills. Perfect when confronted by a surprisingly talented “Hippy Mime Banjo Player” on a street corner.

If your mobile ATM is running low on funds, a self-driving, armored, hybrid vehicle will be alerted and dispatched to your location – arriving within minutes to quickly and safely refill their ATM.

We hope you enjoy having easy access to your cash.

Posted by Peter Hazlehurst, Product Management Director, Google Wallet

UPDATE: Happy April Fools Day! While we would all love this feature, technology cannot quite produce this... yet.

Calling all SF Bay Area residents: help test our new local, same-day delivery service

2013-03-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

We all rely on the web to turn our intentions into actions quickly and easily. From planning a spring break or a trip to the movies to finding the perfect gift for someone we love, the world is increasingly at our fingertips. And over the last few years, we've worked hard to bring the speed of the web to the real world. With Google Play, for example, you can now buy or rent books, movies and TV shows in seconds.

Today we're starting a new experiment, Google Shopping Express. It's a local delivery service that we hope will make it possible for you to get the items you order online the same day, and at a low cost. It's incredibly early days and so the service is only available to a small number of people in the Bay Area.

As a tester, you will be able to shop online, in a single place, from retailers such as Target, Walgreens, Staples, American Eagle and Toys“R”Us/Babies“R”Us -- along with locally distinct shops such as San Francisco’s Blue Bottle Coffee, and the Bay Area’s Palo Alto Toy & Sport and Raley’s Nob Hill Foods, and get your items delivered that same day. So hopefully, no more trips across town for simple errands.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area (in the city of San Francisco, and the Peninsula from San Mateo to San Jose) and would like to help test this new initiative, please sign up here. We’re still working out our long-term pricing plan but early testers will get six months of free, unlimited same-day delivery. The pilot will expand as we work out the kinks, so please stay tuned.

Posted by Tom Fallows, Product Management Director, Google Shopping Express

A quicker, easier shopping experience with Google Shopper 3.2

2013-03-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Making informed shopping decisions should be easy, whether you're at home, in a store or on the go. That's why we launched Google Shopper in 2010 -- to make it easy for users to shop smarter. Today, we're making Google Shopper even more useful, with a new version for Android and iOS that makes it easier than ever to find great products at great prices, and more clearly view product details.

Need a new camera, but aren't quite sure which one is right for you? Google Shopper 3.2 allows you to see the most popular cameras on Google Shopping via a specialized result page.

Overwhelmed by choice? Google Shopper 3.2 provides you with the ability to use category-specific refinements to narrow down your search. This means that if you're looking for a point and shoot camera with a 10 Megapixel sensor, you can easily find the most popular cameras on Google Shopping which include that set of features.

Interested in a specific brand, store, price or other criteria? You can also refine your search in those ways, and the most popular products on Google Shopping that match those criteria will show.

Finally, once you've narrowed down your query to a few options, Google Shopper allows you to view detailed product information about each so that you can make an informed buying decision. In addition to reading that information, viewing reviews from across the web or watching video reviews from YouTube, you may find it useful to view multiple high-resolution product images in the new lightbox viewer.

You can download Shopper 3.2 for your Android device from Google Play, or for your iOS device from the App Store.

Posted by John-Shriver Blake, Product Manager, Google Shopper

Reach smartphone users around the world with Google Shopping

2013-03-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

People today are constantly connected, presenting a tremendous opportunity for retailers to deliver the right products to them across devices anytime, anywhere. We recently announced the release of enhanced campaigns to help advertisers reach customers in a multi-screen world. Today we're pleased to announce the Product Listing Ads are now eligible to appear on smartphones globally, extending the shopping experience already available desktops and tablets. When a user enters a shopping-related search, a commercial format that displays products in a single unit may appear above organic search results. This ad unit is labeled as a 'Sponsored' and displays rich product images, prices, retailers, and more. This mobile shopping experience will be available in all markets currently serving Product Listing Ads.

Below are a couple of examples of what a shopper might see when searching for a product from their phone.

In the image on the left, a user searching for a plaid tie may see an ad unit displaying three options. He can click any of them to learn more and buy, or click 'Shop on Google' to continue browsing on Google Shopping, as shown in the image on the right. From there, the user can look at an even wider variety of options from different retailers. He can review and compare images, prices, reviews, shopping options and other information. Perhaps he'll narrow his search down to plaid ties over $45, or filter to see just the selections available nearby. Finally, once the user has honed in on the perfect choice, he can easily complete his purchase on the retailer's site.

Ensure your products are eligible to display in this new unit for smartphones.

If you've already upgraded your Product Listing Ads to enhanced campaigns and made appropriate bid adjustments, your products will automatically be eligible to display in the new unit for smartphones.

If you haven't yet upgraded your Product Listing Ads to enhanced campaigns, we recommend you upgrade to increase coverage of your products and easily manage bids across devices, locations, and time of day - all from a single campaign.

Learn more in our upcoming mobile shopping webinar

Google Shopping and Enhanced Campaigns

March 14, 2013 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET)

During this webinar, attendees will learn about how Google Shopping and Product Listing Ads work in concert with features that are part of enhanced campaigns. We will also discuss the latest Google Shopping user experience on smartphones and cover new multi-screen opportunities for retail advertisers.

Posted by Erica Sievert, Product Marketing Manager, Google Shopping

Google Shopping global transition is underway

2013-02-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

On February 13, Google Shopping results in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic began to transition to a new commercial experience built on Product Listing Ads. If you're a merchant in one of these countries and you're currently promoting your products on Google Shopping for free, you'll need to create a Product Listing Ad campaign to maintain your traffic and presence. You can learn more about this transition in our recent announcement.

Keep your products visible
To ensure that your products remain eligible for promotion on Google Shopping, we've built an easy way for you to create Product Listing Ads.

You can complete the following three simple steps in Merchant Center:

Set up a basic Product Listing Ad campaign. You'll be able to create a new AdWords account in Merchant Center if you don't already have one.
Customize your campaign. Set a daily budget and one single maximum cost-per-click bid. You can modify these settings any time after you create your campaign.
Provide your billing information. You'll be taken to your AdWords account to provide or confirm your billing information.

For a detailed step-by-step guide to getting started with Product Listing Ads and to apply for a promotional credit (available for a limited time only), please visit this page.

Promote your products across devices

With the recent launch of AdWords enhanced campaigns, it's now easier than ever to promote your products across devices. This is crucial in a world where people are constantly connected and moving from one device to another. We encourage you to upgrade existing product listing ad campaigns to an enhanced campaign with appropriate bid adjustments.

If you need help getting started with Google Shopping, please visit the Google Shopping website or email us through this form.

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

Easily find Google Trusted Store advertisers via new badges in Google Affiliate Network

2013-01-25T07:17:00.001-08:00

We're excited to announce an easy way for publishers to identify advertisers within Google Affiliate Network that have earned the Google Trusted Store badge. Starting today in Google Affiliate Network, a badge will appear next to Google Trusted Store merchants in the U.S. that are also Google Affiliate Network advertisers.

About Google Trusted Stores
The Google Trusted Stores program helps shoppers buy online with confidence. The Google Trusted Store badge is only awarded to stores with a proven track record of reliable, on-time shipping and excellent customer service. So when shoppers see the Google Trusted Store badge on e-commerce websites, they know they’re buying from a store that provides a consistently excellent shopping experience. They also know that Google stands behind them when they shop, providing up to $1,000 of purchase protection in the rare event of a problem.

Benefits for publishers
The Google Trusted Store badge is a helpful tool you can use when considering advertiser affiliate programs to join. Look for the Google Trusted Store logo when browsing the Advertisers tab to find advertisers that are validated and certified by Google as providing a great shopping experience for consumers.

Benefits for advertisers
Advertisers have benefited from higher average order sizes and improved conversion rates after becoming a Google Trusted Store. If you’re an advertiser that delivers an excellent shopping experience and would like to learn more about the program, check out the Google Trusted Stores website for more information. If you earn the badge, it will automatically appear within your Product Listing Ads on Google.com and Google Shopping, as well as within the Google Affiliate Network interface.

We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback about this new feature, so don’t hesitate to share feedback via our Google Affiliate Network forum.

Posted by Bill Goudie, Systems Engineer

Introducing Zavers by Google — helping retailers and manufacturers deliver relevant coupons to shoppers

2013-01-11T09:12:00.001-08:00

Today we’re excited to introduce Zavers by Google—a digital coupon solution that enables retailers and manufacturers to reward loyal customers with coupons that are relevant to them -- increasing basket size and redemption rates. So dog owners don’t get cat food coupons and parents of teenagers don’t get diaper coupons.

Unlike traditional media, Zavers’ real-time data gives manufacturers new ways to measure coupon redemptions and analyze consumer preferences so they can manage distribution, tailor campaigns, and optimize budgets for maximum ROI. Zavers also offers access to an extensive network of manufacturer coupons, opening up new retail revenue streams.

With Zavers, shoppers find manufacturer discounts on their favorite retailer websites, and save the digital coupons to their accounts. Then they simply shop for those products and check out as usual. Redemption occurs in real time, with savings automatically deducted at checkout when shoppers provide their rewards cards or phone numbers—no scanning or sorting necessary. Manufacturers only pay when a product is moved off the shelf.

Zavers by Google is growing fast. This month we are thrilled to welcome New York’s Original Grocer, D’Agostino, as the latest partner in our retail network. In the coming months, we will be announcing partnerships with a number of other major retailers.

Retailers and manufacturers can see first-hand how Zavers works by visiting our demonstration booth at the annual NRF Convention & Expo, January 14-15 (booth #2281).

If you are a U.S.-based retailer or packaged goods manufacturer, let us show you how Zavers by Google can help. To get started, please contact our sales team at g.co/contact-zavers or visit our website at google.com/zavers.

Posted by Spencer Spinnell, Director, Emerging Platforms, Google Commerce

Google Catalogs has the Trends You're Shopping For

2012-12-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

While long lines at the mall and holiday shipping times can be daunting, knowing what to shop for can be the most challenging part of the holiday shopping season. Armed with Google Catalogs, Google Trends and a couple of experts from the Google Shopping team, we've come up with a list of some of the most searched-for items on Google Shopping, to give you some ideas as to what your loved ones really want this season.

Here are some of the most searched for electronics, toys and home goods on Google Shopping, and the catalogs where you can find them...and more!

Electronics

Roku 2 XD searches have reached an all time high in search popularity this season
Google Nexus 7 searches are up 21% since the device launched in June
Sony Nex 5R searches are up 76% since October
Kindle Fire HD searches are up 68% since mid-October
Samsung Galaxy SIII searches have risen by 44% in the past 12 months

Browse the Crutchfield and Brookstone catalogs for more of this season's host gadgets

Toys

Furby searches have risen 88% in the past 12 months
Skylanders: Giants searches have risen 90% since September
Nabi 2 searches are up 92% in the past 30 days
Vtech Innotab 2 searches have doubled since October

Browse the Mills Fleet Farm catalog for these and other toys they'll love

Home

Nespresso Pixie searches are up 36% in November as compared to October
KitchenAid Stand Mixer searches have been up in 2011 and 2012 over previous years by as much as 60%
Roomba 780 searches are up 87% since it's launch in December 2011
Cake Pop Maker searches are up 70% since September

Browse the Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table catalogs for more fabulous home items

Sometimes it's nice to get ahead of the crowd and see what will be the next hot trends. Here are some apparel fashion trends that are gaining traction and the Catalogs where you can browse these looks...and more!

Women's Apparel

Women's Puffer Jackets searches are up 32% over November 2011

Browse Puffer Jackets in the Eddie Bauer catalog

Fair Isle Knits searches are up 20% over last year and continue to rise in popularity

Browse Fair Isle Knits in the Sundance catalog

Searches for the color Oxblood have peaked in search popularity this season, over all holiday seasons since 2004

Browse Oxblood accessories in the Bloomingdale's catalog

Ankle Boots searches are up 20% over last year

Browse Ankle Boots in the Solestruck catalog

Men's Apparel

Chelsea Boots searches have reached an all time high and are still rising

Browse Chelsea Boots in the Johnston & Murphy catalog

Toggle Coats searches are up 35% in searches over last year

Browse Toggle Coats in the Saks Fifth Avenue catalog

Cable Knit Sweaters searches have reached an all time high

Browse Cable Knit Sweaters in the Brooks Brothers catalog

Need more gift ideas? Check out Google Catalogs for great gifts for everyone on your list and let Google Shopping help you outshine Santa this year! Happy Shopping!

Posted by Meghan Brock, Fashion & Style Specialist, Google Shopping

Google Shopping: Promotional Credit and Update to Feed Spec for International Merchants

2012-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last month, we announced the international rollout of the new Google Shopping model built on Product Listing Ads. Starting in February 2013, Google Shopping in ten more countries will be transitioning to a new experience built on Product Listing ads. We believe these changes, and the improved user experience, will create new opportunities for merchants and help retailers of all sizes attract more customers to their stores. The new model will be rolled out completely by the end of Q2 2013.

To encourage merchants in Australia, Japan, Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, U.K., Germany and Switzerland to make this transition to Google Shopping, we are offering promotional credit. Merchants who apply and create a Product Listing Ad campaign promoting all of their products in Merchant Center by 12 April 2013 could qualify for this credit. They could also qualify for a monthly credit for 10% of their total Product Listing Ad spend.

To learn more and apply for promotional credit, please visit this page.

Feed Specification Updates

In an effort to improve the data quality on Google Shopping, we have updated our international feed specifications. These changes will take effect in March 2013. They will align our global product feeds more closely and enable us to surface better results to users. Advertisers who are using the reduced Product Ads feed spec will need to bring their feeds into compliance with these new requirements. For more information on the upcoming changes, please visit the Help Center.

In addition to the update, we will also be releasing a new set of Google Shopping program policies. The detailed policies will be announced in January next year.

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

Use Google Offers to help you save while having fun during the holidays

2012-11-28T19:02:00.002-08:00

As always, this holiday season you are probably juggling multiple things: family to feed, out of town guests to entertain, presents to buy, all without breaking the bank! Google Offers wants to help you achieve that to-do list with maximum convenience and savings. Which is why we are excited to announce a new revamped Google Offers site that makes it easier to discover great offers from the brands you love. Offers are now presented in ten popular categories, including food & drink, shopping and travel, to help you quickly discover great deals that match your interests and needs.

Browse through the categories on the Offers site to find offers relevant to you

In addition to offers that can be purchased immediately, you can now discover and save over thousands of offers from both national and local merchants. You don't need to be at your desktop, simply use Google Maps for Android while you are on the go to find and save offers near you. Then quickly redeem your offer by showing it to the merchant on your phone — eliminating the need to fumble around in your purse or pockets, looking for that elusive paper coupon.

Save and quickly redeem the offer directly on your Android device

If you're spending a day out with family, check Google Offers to score a deal on a tour of one of the city's iconic attractions. If you crave a bite while you are out and about, use Google Maps for Android to quickly check which nearby restaurants are offering specials. And if there is time after for some holiday shopping, Google Offers can help you find great promotions at well-known brands or favorite local stores.

Please visit Google Offers to start saving today!

Posted by Robert Kim, Product Manager, Google Offers

Google Shopping goes global

2012-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

On May 31, we announced a new initiative to improve our shopping experience over time. We designed this initiative to help shoppers better research purchases, compare different products and their features and prices, and then connect with merchants to make their purchases.

As part of this new initiative, called Google Shopping, we transitioned Google Product Search in the U.S. to a commercial model built on Product Listing Ads. We made this transition because we believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will lead to better, more up to date product data — which will mean better shopping results for users and in turn, higher quality traffic for merchants.

We completed the transition in the U.S. on October 17 and have seen a great deal of success so far.

Google Shopping — International rollout
With that success in mind, we are pleased to announce that we are rolling out this commercial model for Google Shopping, built on Product Listing Ads, in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia and Switzerland. We think this will bring the same high-quality shopping experience to people — and positive results to merchants — around the world.

In order to give merchants time to make this transition and optimize their campaigns, we're rolling out the new model gradually, via several steps. The first major change will take place on February 13 2013, when visually cleaner results for shopping queries, including some new commercial formats on Google.com that will display products in a single unit, will replace current search results. These new commercial formats will be labeled as "Sponsored" and appear in the space currently occupied by Adwords ads.

These visually cleaner results for shopping queries will enable shoppers to refine a search by brand or price, and feature larger product images to provide a better sense of a product's attributes. Starting today, we'll begin testing this new format for a small percentage of searches.

The transition to the commercial model will be complete by the end of Q2 2013. We'll also be offering some incentives; details will follow, on this blog and via email, in the coming weeks.

To learn more and get started, merchants can visit
http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2456103

Ranking in Google Shopping, when the full transition is complete in the countries listed above, will be based on a combination of relevance and bid price.

A better shopping experience
These changes will create a better shopping experience that will benefit both shoppers and merchants. Shoppers will find products in one convenient place and quickly be able to compare features, find the best prices, read reviews, and identify great merchants — while advertisers will be given more granular control over product listings and traffic.

We look forward to continuing to evolve the experience with the help of our merchant partners, to help people find what they're looking for at lightning speed — and to help businesses of all sizes reach people at the moment of interest, with helpful information.

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

Deck the halls with tools for shopping

2012-11-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

I love shopping for gifts for my family and friends, but it’s not always easy. Fortunately, the Google Shopping team has built several new tools to help you (and me!) get an early and stress-free start on holiday shopping.

Explore products in 360-degree detail on Google Shopping
Having trouble imagining what a toy actually looks like from the online picture? Now, when searching for toys on Google Shopping, you can see 360-degree photos of the products. These interactive images bring the in-store feeling of holding and touching a product to your online browsing.

Look for the “3D” swivel icon on the product image to see the toy in 360-degree view, on HTML5 enabled browsers. We’ve also put together a Holiday Toy Collection featuring this enhanced imagery—explore the collection on this site. 360-degree imagery is coming for other types of products soon.

If you’re a retailer or manufacturer interested in displaying these rich images of your products on Google Shopping, please fill out this form.

Use Shortlists to stay organized and collaborate with friends
New in Google Shopping, Shortlists make it easier to research products and plan purchases with friends and family. Instead of using bookmarked websites and docs containing long lists of URLs, or back-and-forth emails with friends, you can now consolidate all your shopping research in one place. With Shortlists, you can easily:

Keep track of products you like from Google Shopping and across the web
View product photos, prices and specs side by side
Share your Shortlist with friends, who can add their own ideas

Create a Shortlist by visiting google.com/shopping/shortlists or clicking the “Add to Shortlist” button as you browse products on Google Shopping.

Discover great deals and store promotions on Google Shopping
To help you make the most of your holiday budget, Google Shopping now shows discounts or promotions on the products you're viewing. If discounts or promotions are available, you can click on the link and visit the retailer’s site to redeem the offer.

That’s not all...a few more new Google Shopping features
Here are a few of the other tools we’ve created to make your holiday shopping a little easier:

Not sure you’ve found the perfect gift? Read reviews from people you know and write your own product reviews on Google Shopping.
Found an item that’s almost perfect but not quite? Now you can view “visually similar” results for even more types of products and categories, including jewelry, coats, handbags and more.
Buying an important gift? Look for the Google Trusted Store logo as you shop. It indicates a store ships quickly and delivers excellent customer service.
Shopping on the go? Browse for gift ideas, find local sales and research products with the new and improved Google Shopper 3.0, currently available for Android.
Still need some inspiration? Browse holiday catalogs from the top retailers directly on Google Shopping.

Happy holiday shopping!

Posted by Vineet Buch, Group Product Manager, Google Shopping

See more relevant reviews and share feedback with your friends on Google Shopping

2012-11-12T12:29:00.002-08:00

Reading product reviews has become an important part of how people research products and decide what to buy; in fact, last holiday season, 67% of shoppers read product reviews before making a purchase. This means that it’s more important than ever to give users the ability to quickly find the reviews they trust the most -- those from friends and family.

So today, we’re announcing two new Google Shopping features that help savvy shoppers better find the reviews that will best help them make shopping decisions. The first feature lets you see if a product you’re looking for has been reviewed by someone you know. The second enables you to write product reviews on Google Shopping, to help friends and other Google users make smart purchases.

Read reviews from people you know
Now you can easily see if someone you've connected with on Google has reviewed a product that is in your Google Shopping search results.

See reviews from people you know in your Google Shopping search results

When you click on a particular product and scroll down to the ‘Reviews’ section, reviews from your friends and contacts will appear at the top of the list.

Reviews from friends and contacts appear at the top of the "Reviews" section

Share your own reviews
We’ve also made it easy to write your own product reviews on Google Shopping. To write a review, login with your Google+ account, click on the product you’d like to review, then click the ‘write a review’ button at the top of the page.

Click 'Write a review' when viewing a product on Google Shopping

Rate the product, write your feedback, and click 'Publish'

Once you submit your review, it will be publicly available to anyone who views that product on Google Shopping. You can also choose to post your review to your Google+ stream.

You can choose to share your review in your Google+ stream

And, of course, when people who are connected to you search for or click on that product, your review will be highlighted.

Happy Shopping!

Posted by Karen Corby, Product Manager, Google Shopping

Google Shopper 3.0 - New features to help with your holiday shopping

2012-11-09T09:26:00.003-08:00

As you hit the mall this holiday season, chances are you’ll be accompanied by a reliable personal shopping companion: your mobile phone. Four out of five mobile phone and tablet owners plan to use their device for holiday shopping - for comparing prices, locating nearby stores, and searching for coupons. Today, with the launch of Google Shopper 3.0 for Android, you can easily browse for gift ideas, research products, and locate great deals on the go.

Search for products and get gift ideas on the redesigned home page
The app’s redesigned home screen features a bigger search box for easier navigation. When you browse curated gift ideas and latest trends on the home page or search for apparel and accessories, larger photos let you view product designs in more detail.

Find great sales and special offers with Google Shopper
Shopper now makes it quick and easy to find great deals at local and online stores. From the new Sales page, you can view weekly circulars from nearby stores, along with a handful of featured current promotions which you can redeem online or in person. Shopper also shows you store promotions, such as ‘30% off’ or ‘free shipping’, as you search for products in the app.

Find great deals on the new Sales screen and as you search for products

Use GoodGuide rating to Identify healthy, safe, and eco-friendly products
Whether you shop with a conscience or would like a reason to start, Shopper now features GoodGuide ratings, a rating system that indicates on a scale of one to ten whether a product is healthy, safe and environmentally friendly. When GoodGuide ratings are available for a product, you can view these by scrolling down the product detail screen, as shown below. You can learn more about the GoodGuide rating system here.

GoodGuide product ratings

You can download Shopper 3.0 for your Android device from Google Play.

Posted by John Shriver-Blake, Product Manager, Google Shopper

Save time when purchasing things on your phone with Google Wallet

2012-11-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Making purchases on your mobile phone can be a lot easier. Starting today, on sites that accept Google Wallet, you don’t need to enter your credit or debit card number, billing address or other payment information — it’s already securely stored in your Google Wallet.

Typically, on mobile websites, you need to key in 17-20 fields of information on a small screen while having to click and scroll through multiple pages to provide shipping and billing information. It’s no wonder up to 97% of mobile shoppers abandon their mobile shopping carts. Google Wallet makes it easy and secure for you. Simply click the Buy with Google Wallet button, log into Google Wallet and click to complete your order. That’s it — you’re done in 3 steps.

With Google Wallet, you can buy flowers and gifts at 1-800-Flowers.com quickly and easily on your mobile phone. You can also use Google Wallet to buy on Rockport.com and FiveGuys.com (at select locations).

With Google Wallet you can:

Pay without entering your credit or debit card number, billing address, or other payment information — it’s already securely stored in your Google Wallet.
View your credit and debit cards, shipping addresses and transaction history conveniently in one place at wallet.google.com/manage.
Set a default card for future purchases on your Google Wallet account, making future transactions even faster.
Shop with confidence as all your payment and related information is encrypted and stored on secure servers and not shared with anyone.

Limited time — Save money at 1-800-Flowers.com and Rockport.com

Not only does Google Wallet save you time, it can also save you money. For a limited time, buy with Google Wallet on your mobile device and get $10 off at 1-800-Flowers.com and $20 off at Rockport.com (some restrictions apply).

We are working with a number of other exciting retailers to integrate Google Wallet on their mobile sites, including Finish Line, MovieTickets.com, Seamless, SwimOutlet.com and more, so stay tuned for more announcements.

Posted by Barak Turovsky, Head of Mobile Commerce, Google Wallet

Showcase your promotions and get your customers’ attention

2012-10-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

Shoppers are savvier than ever. They use social recommendations, web searches and smartphone apps to make informed purchase decisions. So how can a retailer stand out and get a shopper’s attention?

Today, we're rolling out a new way for retailers to reach shoppers at the moment of interest. Retailers can now add promotions to their product listings on Google Shopping to make them stand out. In addition, they can distribute their promotions on other Google properties such as Google Maps for Android and the Google Offers app, and attract shoppers to their store.

Promotions are highlighted in product listings on Google Shopping

In a few simple steps retailers can create a promotions list, map it to the right products in Google Shopping and upload to Google Merchant Center. Our system supports user specific redemption codes and associated reporting, enabling retailers to measure the performance of each promotion.

Shoppers can see nearby promotions while searching in Google Maps for Android

This is one of the many steps we’re taking to provide traffic, technology and tools to help retailers grow their business. Over 25 well-known U.S. retailers, including 1-800-flowers.com, OfficeMax®, Inc., Tommy Hilfiger, Express, Chico’s, Overstock, Guitar Center, Drugstore.com and Wayfair, are already part of this program. In the coming months, we plan to expand the program to include more retailers. If you are interested in featuring your promotions on Google properties, you can learn more here.

Posted by Nitin Mangtani, Group Product Manager, Google Offers and Michaela Feller, Product Manager, Google Shopping

Google Shopping: transition update and new functionality in time for the holidays

2012-10-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

Over the last 4 months, Google Shopping has been moving to a commercial model built on Product Listing Ads. One of the reasons we decided to make this transition was to get better data from merchants in order to build a better shopping experience for users. We are very pleased with the participation from retailers in our new model and many are starting to report success.

Starting on October 17, Google Shopping results in the US will come only from merchants who are Product Listing Ads advertisers. We will be ranking these results based on relevance, with bidding as an additional factor. The ranking of natural search results on Google.com will not change.

Help for the Holidays

For merchants who have not yet made the transition, it’s not too late to get your products on Google Shopping and optimized in time for the holiday season. You can do so by signing up for Product Listing Ads; please visit www.google.com/ads/shopping for more information. For merchants attending SMX East in New York City this week, we would love to hear from you during the Google Shopping Q&A session on October 4 at 2:30 PM local time. We look forward to making ourselves available to answer any questions you may have regarding Product Listing Ads on Google Shopping.

For help optimizing your Product Listing Ads, check out our Google Shopping best practices guide or watch our optimization video. Additionally, we’ll be hosting a ‘Bidding Strategies for the Holidays’ Hangout on Air on October 19 at 10:00am PST. Visit the Ads Google+ page to join the Hangout.

A New Way to Optimize Campaigns

We’ve gotten a lot of requests for tools that make it easier to manage campaigns at a more granular level, so we’re pleased to announce the availability of product level bidding. This addition to the Product Listing Ads toolkit will help merchants during the holiday season and beyond in a number of ways.

Optimize bids for individual products. You can now improve your Product Listing Ad performance by setting your cost per click bid at the item level. This functionality should help you meet your volume and profit targets at the product level.
Easily create product targets. It is now possible to create product targets using the product ID in your Merchant Center feed to manage your bids at the product level.

We believe this feature will create new opportunities for optimization by allowing you to easily target individual products, and will help you make the most out of your Google Shopping campaigns.

For more information on product targets please visit the AdWords Help Center.

We look forward to releasing more tools and features in the coming months to help you reach new customers on Google Shopping. Stay tuned!

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

Browse your favorite catalogs on the web

2012-10-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

Last year we introduced Google Catalogs, giving shoppers a rich, new way to browse and explore their favorite catalogs on a tablet device. Since then, Google Catalogs has grown to become one of the largest collections of digital catalogs, featuring thousands of issues from over 300 retail brands, including catalog favorites like Williams Sonoma, J.Crew, Eddie Bauer, and more.

Today we’re excited to announce that shoppers can now browse our entire catalog inventory on the web through Google Shopping, making it easier than ever to stay up to date on the latest styles, shop for products, or maybe even get a head start on holiday wishlists.

To start shopping, visit www.google.com/shopping/catalogs. From here, you can browse our editor’s weekly picks and see what’s new in the ‘Latest catalogs’ section. Click ‘Brands’ to view an alphabetical list of catalogs, or select ‘Categories’ to browse over 25 catalog categories, including Women’s Fashion & Apparel, Home, Kids & Baby, Outdoor Adventure, Toys, and many more.

Once you find a catalog you like, click on the issue to open the catalog viewer where you can flip through catalog pages and zoom in to see products up close. To view information about specific products, roll your mouse over the page and click the tag for the product you’re interested in. This opens a box with more information, additional views, and price. Clicking ‘View Details’ takes you directly to the retailer’s site to learn more or make a purchase.

You can also browse a selection of the latest catalogs in the ‘Featured Catalogs’ section on the Google Shopping home page. Over time, we plan to incorporate catalogs more deeply throughout the Google Shopping experience, giving you more ways to find ideas and inspiration as you shop and engage with your favorite brands.

'Featured Catalogs' on the Google Shopping home page

If you’re a retailer interested in submitting your catalog for inclusion in both the tablet app and web experience, we’d love to hear from you.

Posted by Abigail Holtz, Business Product Manager, Google Shopping

Card issuers can instantly and freely support their cards’ use in Google Wallet

2012-09-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

In the weeks since we released a new version of the Google Wallet app that supports all credit and debit cards, usage has more than doubled. Consumers have immediately grasped the benefit of being able to use any card when shopping in-store and online.

What’s less visible is how our new approach benefits our valued banking partners. We have always pledged that Google Wallet would be open to all card issuers at no cost. And by moving Google Wallet to the cloud, we have greatly simplified the way that card issuers integrate with it. Issuers no longer need to connect their systems directly to ours. We have completely eliminated the cost and complexity for issuers to offer their customers their cards in a mobile wallet. What was previously an effort that could take many months, cost millions, and require complex orchestration among many parties has been reduced to a few simple steps.

Even though direct integration is no longer a prerequisite for having your banks’ cards in Google Wallet, we encourage issuing banks to take some steps to give their customers great experiences with the wallet.

Provide us with card art - our mobile wallet shows card art from issuing banks that have provided us with imagery. Card art is an important representation of your bank’s brand, and by adding your card art to Google Wallet, you help Wallet users recognize their cards.

Barclaycard US, Green Dot, and Silicon Valley Bank are some of the first card issuers to provide us with card art. Reinforcing our commitment to all financial institutions, credit union partners of PSCU, a leading credit union service organization, can now easily work with Google Wallet by simply reaching out to their PSCU account executive. We are actively working with credit, debit, and prepaid card issuers of all sizes.
Implement our Save to Wallet API for Payment Cards - this API allows you to add a button to your website so that your customers can easily save their cards to Google Wallet in just a few clicks. Both Discover and Barclaycard US (via the L.L. Bean and US Airways co-branded Barclaycard US programs) have recently launched their implementations. Below are some screenshots of the Barclaycard US’ user flow — you can see that users never need to enter their card information into Google Wallet. Instead they save their card to Google Wallet by signing into their already familiar Google Account.

Step 1: sign into your Barclaycard US account and click the Google Wallet banner

Step 2: sign into your Google Account

Step 3: your card is in your Google Wallet

If you’re a card issuer and would like to work with us to give your customers great experiences with Google Wallet, please contact us here.

Posted by Frank T. Young, Commerce Business Development Manager, Google Wallet

Google Shopping: momentum and merchant success

2012-09-12T07:29:00.001-07:00

In May, we announced Google Shopping, a new way for people to find and research products, and discover where to buy those products online or nearby. Google Shopping helps people turn their shopping intentions into actions quickly and easily, and then connect directly with merchants to make purchases.

Progress, improvements and easier onboarding
We've been pleased by the rapid adoption of Google Shopping in the retail community; tens of thousands of merchants, including many marketplaces, have come on board and are participating in Google Shopping via the new model, based on Product Listing Ads (PLAs). Overall, this represents inventory from over one hundred thousand sellers.

As the transition to the new model continues, we’ve made changes that will make it easier for merchants to participate in and get more out of Google Shopping. We outlined several of these last month and are pleased to share several more:

Google Trusted Stores annotations are appearing on product pages within Google Shopping, providing participating merchants with greater ability to attract new customers and helping shoppers to make more informed shopping decisions.
For merchants that are not familiar with Adwords, we have created a simplified sign-up flow in Merchant Center to make participation easier.
AdWords Editor updates are reducing the amount of time it takes to optimize a PLA campaign -- from hours to minutes, in many cases.
Campaign Tracking URL templates have decreased the number of steps required to set up tracking in AdWords and are making the process easier for merchants.

Google Trusted Stores annotations are now appearing on Google Shopping

Of course, it’s not too late for merchants to get on board and optimize their campaigns prior to the upcoming holiday shopping season. We’ve recorded a series of Hangouts on Air to help small and mid-sized businesses transition to Google Shopping, and have made some Google Shopping best practices available here.

Some Google Shopping Superstars, and the Three C’s
We’ve seen some early success stories from a variety of retailers, demonstrating how Google Shopping has helped them to connect with consumers, drive clicks to their websites and improve conversion rates. Highlights from some mid-sized merchants are listed below; you can find the full text of all these success stories following each description.

Adorama, one of America’s largest photo retailers and mail-order suppliers, saw their click-through rate (CTR) jump by 176 percent and their conversion rate rise by 100 percent in June 2012, as compared to a year earlier; a similar year-over increase also occurred in July 2012. The full success story can be found here.

Campmor, a recreational equipment retailer, saw sales increase 10x between January 1 and the present, using PLAs and Google Shopping. The full success story can be found here.

Empire Covers, an online retailer offering protective covering for cars, trucks, boats, RVs, and motorcycles, along with accessories for pet travel and outdoor living, saw their cost-per-acquisition (CPA) decline by 36 percent between April and August 2012. Additionally, CPCs dropped by 11 percent from July to August 2012. The full success story text can be found here, and a video with more details here.

Plow & Hearth, a leading retailer of products for the home, hearth, yard, and garden that includes all of its products for all of its brands in PLAs on Google Shopping, saw a number of dramatic results: unique site visits increased by 129 percent, pages per visit increased by 6.3 percent and average visit duration increased by 14.7 percent, while their bounce rate dropped by 9.8 percent. The full success story can be found here.

ToolKing.com, an Internet Retailer 500 company offering tools, hardware, home-improvement items, outdoor goods, and more across multiple e-commerce channels, lists all its products in Google Shopping via PLAs. Since signing up for PLAs, ToolKing.com’s traffic and conversion rates have risen by more than 50 percent, average order value is up by nearly 15 percent and the sale of thousands of items it once considered “dead” have been reinvigorated. The full success story text can be found here and you can watch a video with more details here.

TravelSmith Outfitters, an outfitting resource for savvy travelers, used the expertise of Mercent to implement PLAs. Since then, product sales originating from PLAs and Google Shopping have increased by 200 percent. They have also increased consumer traffic by approximately 10 percent and have seen orders go up by 35 percent, with more than a 26 percent increase in sales conversions. The full success story can be found here.

There’s more to come!
We look forward to sharing more with you over the coming months -- from new merchant tools that provide more control and flexibility, to new features that will make holiday shopping easier and more fun for consumers. We’re also in the process of planning our 2013 roll-out of Google Shopping in Europe, Asia and Latin America. We’ll have more to share in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

Use Google Wallet to optimize your mobile and online shopping sites

2012-09-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

When shopping from a phone, using a credit card can be a painful way to pay. In fact, the typical purchase has 17-20 fields to fill and 7-10 clicks and scrolls, all on a small phone screen! For merchants, this time-consuming and error-prone process can be even more painful -- research shows that online shopping cart abandonment topped 75% in 2011, with abandonment on mobile even higher.

In order to ease the pain of online shopping for both shoppers and merchants, we’re introducing a new Google Wallet API that can improve the checkout process on both mobile and desktop sites in the following ways:

Once shoppers log into Google Wallet, there is no need to enter a 16 digit credit card number or other payment information -- it is already securely stored in Google Wallet.
Returning shoppers who have authorized Google Wallet as their payment method will not be redirected to Google pages, meaning the shopper never leaves the merchant’s website and future transactions are even faster.
Shoppers can also use their Google accounts to login to merchant sites, so there’s no need to remember multiple logins and passwords.

For merchants, there are no additional charges for accepting Google Wallet. Since you continue to use your existing payment processor, implementation is fast and simple. We encourage interested merchants to start trying it out now. To get access to the Google Wallet API, please request contact from a Google representative via this form. We are releasing the API to approved partners, and we will review your information and contact you upon approval.

Platform partners such as Branding Brand and others are also starting to include Google Wallet as a part of the commerce services they provide. If you are working with one of these partners or are interested in learning more about their capabilities, please contact them directly.

There’s a lot more in store for Google Wallet, so stay tuned on our +Page.

Posted by Barak Turovsky, Head of Mobile Commerce, Google Wallet