Google Shopping and Fnac Darty Soon to Become Partners

Just a few months after their large-scale partnership with Google was made official, Fnac Darty would be getting ready to become the first French player to rely on Google Shopping Actions. This tends to stress the Web giant’s strategy: they still intend to act as an intermediary between consumers and retailers.

The new Beta version if Google Shopping is available in the US and started being rolled out in France. This service allows e-merchants to display their products on three main Google interfaces (Google Express, Google Search and their voice-based assistant). Once the items selected, the customer may simply pay in one click. This service was initially supposed to land in France in partnership with Carrefour but, according to LSA, Fnac Darty seems to be leading the race.

The French retail group will be able to manage their ads through Merchant Center so they direct to Google Express marketplace. Google charges a fee for each conclusive sale. Buyers may rely on different channels to add items to their shopping cart and pay at once using preregistered payment information.

Only some of Darty’s products would be proposed via Google Shopping Actions by the end of the year. Fnac products could be covered as of 2019. Prices, as well as shipping and returns options will be the same as those applied on the merchant’s websites.

Comments – A strategic shift for Google?

This service would be consistent with a partnership between Google and Fnac Darty in place since April 2018. This partnership helps the retail group boosts their online sales and rely on a voice ordering option. They can now use Google Shopping Actions to make their products more visible.

With reshaped purchasing experience based on their own environment, Google keeps heading towards a strategic shift. They claim they want to be considered as an enabler building interactions between consumers and retailers in France. Unlike on the US version of their marketplace, data collection is limited due to GDPR implementation. In the US, the group relies on their user’s personal data to customise recommendations. Yet, the idea is similar: a universal, multi-channel, multi-merchant shopping cart and one-click payment. Google also further gains ground in facing Amazon, which became the first place for customers to run product searches in the US. Their business choices keep converging.