Google's new Showcase Shopping ads aim to cement it as a top eCommerce platform.

Three new shopping announcements were made by Google at their annual Google Marketing Live 2019 event on Tuesday.

1. New Google Shopping Experiences

Google seeks to help users make decisions on what to buy and where to buy products. To this end, it is launching a new shopping platform at google.com/shopping.

Users will be able to compare millions of products across thousands of stores all in one place.

They will also have three options for anything they want to buy. Users will be able to either purchase online, go to a local store, or purchase directly from retailers on Google.

The new Google shopping home page will include personalized recommendations for new products based on past purchases and recently viewed items.

The Shopping Page will also include links to product reviews and videos of people unboxing and reviewing any item a user wants to purchase.

Google claims the checkout process will be simple since all user shipping and payment information will already be stored in their Google profile.

The idea is to merge the best of Google Express with Google Shopping to create a viable Amazon competitor.

Google Shopping is already available in France, and will be rolled out in the USA in the coming months.

In addition, users will be able to use their Google Assistant to make purchases with just their voice.

Google Images will also be integrated. Meaning a user can view an image and if there is product for sale in the image, a link will be included where a user can complete a purchase.

Perhaps the most interesting innovation to Google Shopping will be its integration with YouTube. Now users will be able to buy products directly from a video while they are watching.

To sell your products using these services, you will need to sign up at google.com/retail/shoppingactions

2. New Showcase Shopping Ads

Google has recognized that shopping is a visual experience, and as such it has launched Showcase Shopping Ads.

Google is taking a page from Pinterest's playbook and aiming to target users when they are searching for inspiration and ideas.

Crucially, Google says that over 80% of traffic from showcase shopping ads to retail sites were new visitors.

To build on that success, Google is launching showcase shopping ads which will be included on Google Images, YouTube and the Discover section of Google Search.

3. Shopping Campaigns with Partners

A final shopping announcement that Google made at their event was new partnership opportunities for brands and retailers.

As users have moved online, this has created a new need to connect with such users on digital platforms.

The new shopping campaign partnership opportunities will give retailers the option of accepting additinoal budgets that come from brand partners, and brand partners can select which of their products or categories they want to promote with their own budget.

Early testing with Estee Launder Group of Companies has resulted in their click share on Google increasing by 70%.

The Shopping Partner program is live as of today and you can join now.

More updates to Local Campaigns

Google has recognized that a significant portion of the population still prefers to visit stores in person rather than completing everything online.

To this end, the company launched local campaigns designed to help users looking for a business more easily connect.

To better improve this experience, Google has made a few updates to expand the ad inventory of local campaigns further.

Early tests with Dunkin' has resulted in a 4x increase in monthly visits from Google Ads, according to Google.

These updates include:

1. Businesses can now display specific product lines

Google knows that often times users like to have a certain sense of what they expect to buy a store before they arrive. Now businesses can showcase new product lines on their local campaigns to show customers exactly what they should expect when they get to their store.

2. More opportunities with Google Maps

When users look for places in maps, they will now see relevant promoted suggestions in there search results.

In addition, promoted pins will now be displayed not only when a user conducts a search in maps, but also when they plan a route, the idea being that thi will make it easier to plan an additional stop on the way between destinations.

Google also released a new travel section for desktop in what seems to be their attempt to become the new TripAdvisor. Users will be able to book hotels, buy flight tickets, read reviews of cities and destinations all from the Google.com/travel page.

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