Google launches fresh attempt to compete with Amazon on online shopping

It’s the final frontier: pretty much the only area Google doesn’t dominate internet searches is in eCommerce.

While consumers tend to use Google to find almost anything else, when shopping online they are more likely to head straight to Amazon and search from there.

And, given Amazon’s rapidly-growing advertising platform, and the rise of internet shopping during the pandemic, that’s a problem Google wants to overcome.

It has already tried several times to conquer the eCommerce market, without great levels of success. Google Shopping Express became Google Express, which last year merged with Google Shopping, launched many years ago as Froogle.

But this year may be the year it gets into its stride. Google has hired Bill Ready, formerly of PayPal, to head up its eCommerce business. He has said that with many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers still lagging behind on eCommerce, the growth of online sales during the pandemic has been swallowed up by a smaller number of big players.

What are the changes?

In April, Google Shopping reversed its policy of requiring sellers to buy ads to list products, and allowed these free listings to appear in search results.