Google is killing its shopping marketplace that allows retailers to sell their products directly on Google.
For a while, Google had a tiny Amazon inside of it – some shopping results on Google had a “Add to cart” button. It ran a marketplace. Shoppers could search and add products to a shopping cart and checkout while browsing Google. They can still discover and compare products on Google, but Google is sunsetting the Buy on Google checkout experience that allows buying without leaving Google. All shopping results will now link to merchants’ external websites for checkout.
During 2018-2020, Google actively recruited sellers and attended conferences to promote its marketplace. In July 2020, it even reduced commission fees to zero to bring more sellers. By the end of 2020, it had attracted nearly 8,000 sellers,primarily existing Amazon and eBay sellers. However, there likely was little sales volume – the native checkout experience didn’t have a distinct and clear-cut value proposition; it was one of the dozens of options inside Google’s unfocused shopping experience.
Source: Marketplace Pulse
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. 