Google confirmed the arrival of a “Buy” button, which will enable consumers to purchase products directly from shopping ads. According to Omid Kordestani, the company’s business officer, who rejoined after a five-year hiatus, said the button is “imminent” when speaking at the Code Conference.
Google looks to minimize steps in online purchase
Korderstani claimed that the buy feature is aimed at making it easier for people to buy products online, adding that 90% of commerce still remains disconnected.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report about the buy button from the internet giant earlier this month. The buy button, predicted to be released on mobile devices, will be present on the company’s paid Product Listing Ads. As soon as a user clicks on these ads, the button will redirect them to a Google webpage that will allow them to buy the relevant product directly through the search provider instead of a third-party website.
In addition to online purchases, mobile searches also facilitate the process of buying products offline. In fact, the number of searches on Google regarding the availability of products nearby has doubled in the span of a year.
Competition from Amazon
The inclusion of a buy button, which depicts similar efforts made by Facebook and Twitter, marks an important variation from Google, which mainly developed its business by providing links to other websites.
Jason Del Rey of Re/code pointed out that getting people to complete a purchase has been a major source of debate for online retailers. However, now with the addition of the buy button, Google seems to be helping retailers by decreasing the steps between viewing a product and completing an order. The news of a buy button comes after the internet giant launched several ad enhancement features on mobile devices to attract more transactions and compete with companies such as Facebook and Amazon.
Currently, Google is facing strong competition from Amazon, which is a preferred platform for searching products online. Moreover, due to the online retailer’s one-click ordering technology, wide selection and fast shipping, finishing a purchase is much easier on Amazon compared to buying products using the third-party links present on Google’s search page.
However, with the arrival of a buy button, things could change. Experts believe the buy buttons could quickly become an accepted part of companies like Google and could potentially narrow the mobile monetization gap.
