>> JEFF: Hi there. I’m Jeff Harrell,
and I lead the Merchant Shopping teams at Google.
People are shopping on Google more than a billion times a day.
And now, more than ever, it’s our mission to help businesses of all sizes connect with
customers anywhere they’re shopping on Google in relevant, delightful experiences that highlight
your unique brand, store, and product information.
Even for savvy online shoppers, finding the right product can be complex and time consuming.
Shoppers are met with an overwhelming set of options and have to parse through
information to find what they’re looking for.
That’s why we’re bringing you more ways to highlight your brand and products so you
can connect with the right shoppers.
I’m excited to share that these features and experiences will be launched across Search
and the Shopping tab, whether you’re paying for ads or not.
So let’s jump in.
When the gyms shut down last year, I decided it was time for me to pick up running outdoors.
I turned to Google to look for some new running shoes.
After reading reviews and browsing different brands and styles, I settled on the pair I wanted.
I searched for those shoes and found them being offered by a few different retailers.
But, for me, fast and free shipping and an easy way to return were the deciding factors.
And it’s clear I’m not alone here.
Searches for “next day delivery” increased 100% year over year, and 84% of shoppers
say that the delivery experience stands out most when thinking about a purchase.
Finally, 67% of shoppers consider ease of returns more than they did pre-COVID.
It’s evident that your shipping and returns strategies can help you stand out.
We’re bringing you new ways to do so.
If your products can be shipped for free in 3 days or less, they are eligible for the
annotations “free 1-, 2-, or 3-day shipping,” which can show up in our product listings.
We’re also bringing new annotations to highlight your return policy, including “free returns,”
“free in-store returns,” or simply displaying the given time period for the return window.
Since launching these, we’ve seen a 10% increase in click-through rate when
“3-day shipping” annotation is used.
Retailers can add shipping and return annotations for all products
by sharing this data with Google in Merchant Center, our centralized hub
for managing your inventory, or by using our APIs.
We also know that today’s shoppers are open to building authentic relationships with brands.
These personalized relationships are often developed through loyalty and reward programs.
As you can see, 81% of shoppers are willing to share basic information
for a more personalized experience.
We’re bringing new ways for you to enable your loyalty programs
across Google to better highlight your brand.
Shoppers will soon be able to link their loyalty account with Google and see special perks
and member pricing whenever they encounter your products on Google.
To integrate these features, you’ll need to provide additional information when you
upload your product data, as well as support our industry standard
account linking and single sign-on.
We’re currently piloting this with a small set of merchants
with plans to roll it out more broadly next year.
Offering promotions on your products is another way to develop and engage
with deal-seeking customers.
We’ve even seen searches for “discount code” increase by 50% since last year.
You can add promotions for your products, like a percentage off or special price,
to help you stand out and encourage shoppers to buy.
As you can see, on average, we’ve seen a 28% lift in conversion rates when products
in a Shopping ad include a promotion.
And, to better enable you to react to shifting shopper demand, we’ve made it easier to
upload and edit these promotions in Merchant Center, and soon, the Content API, reducing
the average approval time from days to hours.
As my team builds to ensure businesses can be successful showing and selling their products,
we know this also goes hand in hand with ensuring that shoppers can be
successful finding what they need.
Your customers will soon be able to see all the goodness that you have to offer, like
fulfillment options, loyalty programs, and promotions, as well as all of your buying
options, in one place.
Now, from a single listing, shoppers can pick the option that makes the most sense for them,
whether that’s buying in your store, on your site, or on Google.
We’re on an ongoing journey to match the right business with the right customers
while retaining choice for what, where, and how to buy.
And we’ll surface the most relevant buying option, based on what your customer is looking for,
and help drive uplift for your business.
For example, if a customer searches for a product “near me,” we’ll know that it’s
helpful to show them a local listing.
We’re currently testing this in the US on Search, with plans to expand to the Shopping
tab and additional surfaces like YouTube and Images later this year.
In retail, you also face a barrage of data daily, from SKU-level insights to broader
category and competitive trends.
And we’ve heard from many of you that, now especially, you need actionable insights to
help make your business and marketing decisions.
So, we’ve built better tools to help you drive your own success and tap into
“shopping at the speed of culture.”
From our user research, we hear that you’re focused on tracking and understanding your
performance and adjusting to meet your business goals.
You want to understand what’s happening and why.
Let’s say you notice that your product’s performance has recently gone down.
You might respond by reallocating your marketing budget.
But, before taking action, you may also wonder,
“Is this happening just to me, or was there a market shift?”
With our new competitive visibility report in Merchant Center, for the
first time, we’re bringing insights beyond your own performance,
so that you can see how you stack up against your competitors.
From there, we’ll point you to next best actions, such as changing your inventory mix,
running ads, or adjusting prices.
And if you need to even adjust your pricing, then we’ll even link you to our
price competitiveness report where you can see how other businesses
are pricing products similar to yours.
We’re currently piloting the competitive visibility report
and plan to launch globally later this year.
By pulling these real-time signals, like what shoppers are clicking on and how your competitors
are performing, we’re bringing you brand-new insights to inform
your pricing, assortment, and bid strategies.
I’ve covered a lot of ground here, sharing how you can highlight your unique assets and
stand out to your customers across Google, from showing your fulfillment and buying options
to surfacing loyalty perks and deals.
You can take advantage of all of these features and get our unique-to-Google
insights in Merchant Center.
And if you’re currently not on Merchant Center, getting set up is simple.
The choice is yours: you can either sign up directly on merchants.google.com,
or you can get started through an integration partner like Shopify, WooCommerce, or GoDaddy.
Now, it’s easier than ever to tap into rich shopping experiences and showcase your offers
across Google’s billions of daily shopping searches.
And as e-commerce continues to grow, we’ll continue building more opportunities to help
highlight your products and connect to your customers across Google.
Thanks for tuning in!
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Commerce keynote, where Bill Ready,
our President of Commerce, shares how businesses can partner with Google to reach shoppers
across the full customer journey.