Google Shopping Actions Soon to Launch in France

A month ago, Google announced a strategic partnership with a French retail giant. They are now getting ready to launch Google Shopping Actions in France: another step for the group as their intent to challenge the e-commerce Behemoth Amazon remains obvious.

Google Shopping Actions has been proposed in Beta in the US since March this year. This service is presented as a marketplace enabling e-merchants to feature their products on Google Search, Google Express Shopping as well as via Google Assistant. E-purchasers may for their part buy goods using just one service for their order.

They can check for products’ availability through the search engine or via Google’s connected speaker. Google then displays the items proposed by their partners. The purchasing process remains unchanged regardless of the tool the customer chooses: PC, mobile or connected speaker. His selected items are added to a single shopping cart and the payment step is instantly conducted based on the identification information provided beforehand.

This new service allows e-merchants to only be charged if they actually sell items. Google Shopping Actions should be proposed in France during S2 2018.

Comments – Google aims for the e-commerce sector

A study conducted by Google showed that the number of mobile-based searches where customers seek to buy goods would have increased by more than 85% over the past two years. Yet, most of the Internet users end up choosing Amazon to place their order. This considered, Google started proposing marketplace services enabling their users to purchase goods directly on their search engine. They commit to streamlining the purchasing experience as far as possible and even added multi-merchant shopping carts.

Google already partnered with Walmart and Carrefour. Their ambitions are again made clear, as they try to stand out as a partner for retail players whose digital transformation is in progress. In the US, the group already has several agreements in place for this new solution, including with Target, Costco and Home Depot. In France, after some specialised merchants (Fnac, OUI.sncf and Sephora), Carrefour is the first general retail group to join this move.