Google Commerce: 2012

Google Catalogs has the Trends You're Shopping For

12/12/12

Google CatalogsGoogle TrendsGoogle ShoppingHere 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

12/11/12

announcedProduct Listing AdsGoogle ShoppingAustraliaJapanBrazilSpainItalyFranceNetherlandsU.K.GermanySwitzerlandthis pageFeed Specification Updates
reduced Product Ads feed specHelp CenterPosted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

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

11/28/12

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

11/15/12

announceda great deal of successGoogle Shopping — International rollouthttp://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2456103 A better shopping experience

Deck the halls with tools for shopping

11/13/12

Google ShoppingExplore products in 360-degree detail on Google Shoppingon this site

this formUse Shortlists to stay organized and collaborate with friends Shortlists

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

google.com/shopping/shortlistsDiscover great deals and store promotions on Google Shopping

That’s not all...a few more new Google Shopping features

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.

Posted by Vineet Buch, Group Product Manager, Google Shopping

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

11/12/12

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

11/9/12

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

11/1/12

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

10/18/12

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

10/2/12

Over the last 4 monthssuccess
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. www.google.com/ads/shopping
For help optimizing your Product Listing Ads, check out our Google Shopping best practices guide or watch videoGoogle+ page
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

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.

AdWords Help Center
We look forward to releasing more tools and features i

Browse your favorite catalogs on the web

10/1/12

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

9/13/12

new version of the Google Wallet app that supports all credit and debit cards

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

please contact us here

Google Shopping: momentum and merchant success

9/12/12

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

9/10/12

research showsGoogle Wallet API

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.

formBranding Brandothersstay tuned on our +PagePosted by Barak Turovsky, Head of Mobile Commerce, Google Wallet

Tips for smarter, more secure online shopping

9/5/12

Protect your Google Accountcreate a strong passwordenable 2-step verification keep your account recovery information up to dateIf it looks too good to be true... phishing attemptsspoofed invoicesOnly send information over secure connectionshttps://here Posted by Angela Lai, VP Engineering, Google Wallet

Hangout Alert!: Discuss the SF Food Scene With Gary Danko, Nancy Oakes, and More

8/21/12

(Cross-posted on the Zagat Blog)teaming up with the folks at ZagatBoulevardGary DankoAzizaSF ChroniclehereGoogle+ PagePosted by James Mulcahy, Zagat Blog Editor

An easy way to save your Discover Card to Google Wallet

8/16/12

A few weeks ago we released a cloud-based Google Wallet app that supports all credit and debit cards. The new version of the app provides access to the same set of payment cards when you’re shopping in-store as you would online with Google Wallet. Already we’ve seen a significant increase in signups and app usage as people have loaded all their cards into Google Wallet.

To make it even easier to save cards to Google Wallet, we’re working with credit and debit card issuers on a novel approach to adding cards to your wallet. Discover Card is the first issuer to launch an implementation of our new Save to Wallet API for Payment Cards.
To save your Discover Card to Google Wallet, just follow these short steps:
Visit discover.com/googlewallet and sign into your Discover account

Click “Add Your Card”

Sign into your Google Account

And that’s it! You don’t even need to look up your credit card number, let alone type it in.

Discover securely transmits all required information directly to Google Wallet. You can then select your Discover Card to be the primary method the Google Wallet app will use for in-store purchases, or when shopping online from Google Play or other merchants that accept Google Wallet. You’ll continue to earn rewards on every purchase you make. Discover has also provided Google Wallet with card imagery for the Discover More® Card, so you can easily identify your virtual Discover card in your mobile wallet.

So go ahead and save your Discover Card into your Google Wallet today. And if you haven’t yet tried our new Google Wallet app, it’s available now on compatible phones in the US.
Posted by Frank Young, Commerce Business Development Manager, Payments

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