Google Shopping and SMBs: What you need to know

We’re excited to launch a series of Hangouts on Air to help guide small and medium sized businesses through the transition to Google Shopping. This series of Hangouts will guide you through an introduction to Google Shopping--giving you all the information you need to list your products on Google Shopping:

Session 1: Google Shopping Introduction and Overview: Friday, July 13th - 9:30am PDT
Session 2: Introduction to Merchant Center: Tuesday, July 17th - 9:30am PDT
Session 3: Creating and Optimizing Your Product Listing Ads for Google Shopping: Friday July, 20th - 9:30am PDT
Session 4: Trusted Stores Overview and Setup: Monday, July 23rd - 10:30am PDT

To tune into this Hangout On Air:

1) Visit the Google Ads Google+ Page at 9:30am PDT / 12:30pm EDT.
2) Look for the stream post (see image below for what it will look like), and click to tune in. Be sure you’re signed into Google+!

We look forward to seeing you there, but if you cannot join us, we’ll be posting each session to this blog and the Google Business YouTube channel.

Posted by Jon Venverloh, Senior Manager, Google Shopping

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Commerce API World Tour

Over the past few months, the Google Commerce Developer team has been very busy spreading the word about Google’s In-App Payments and Shopping APIs for Search and Content. In addition to meeting developers at events in the United States, we had the opportunity to engage with developer communities around the world.

We started our world tour in Japan at Google Developer Day, Tokyo. We continued globetrotting to Australia for GDD Sydney, then to Spain for Google DevFest, Barcelona and finished in Germany with events at the Berlin GTUG and GDD Berlin.

Peng Ying and Mihai Ionescu presented distribution and monetization strategies for web applications to developers in Tokyo, Sydney and Berlin while Danny Hermes spoke about using the Google Shopping APIs in Barcelona.

We love meeting and talking to developers, and we’re looking forward to continuing to connect with developer communities worldwide. With the recent international expansion of In-App Payments, we’ll be hosting a hangout on Google+ tomorrow December 20th at 11AM PST to answer monetization questions.

For future events, keep an eye on this blog, our social media channels and the Google Developers events page, or join a Google Technology User Group.

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Commerce Developer Advocate

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Trends from the biggest shopping days of the year

(Cross-posted on the Google Retail Blog)

With the biggest shopping weekend of the year behind us here in the U.S., we decided to take a step back, crunch the numbers and look at how people shopped during the extravaganza that spans Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Using Insights for Search and data from Google’s annual consumer intentions shopping study, conducted with our research partner OTX, we identified two stand-out trends this year. One, shoppers are searching more for deals online than ever before and they’re heavily relying on their mobile device as an on-the-go, personal shopping assistant. Here’s what we learned from the data:

It’s all about saving money and time
The search trends clearly showed consumers are more aware of and interested in special deals available over the holiday shopping weekend. Searches for [black friday deals] were up by 30% from last year, and searches for [cyber monday sales] and [cyber monday coupons] grew 15% year over year. Further, on Black Friday, half of the top 20 rising searches on Google involved retailers or deals.

Closing out the long weekend, [cyber monday deals 2011] made the top five growing search term on Cyber Monday. In addition, searches for [black midnight] jumped by over 30% over last year, indicating shoppers were planning to hit the stores when retailers opened their doors at 12am on Black Friday.

Most interesting to us was the growth in queries indicating that shoppers were using the web to plan out their trips to the store. Searches for [black friday store map] were conducted more than twice as often this year as in 2010, and searches for [black friday store hours] were up over 40% for the same time period.

Mobile matters
More and more shoppers are reaching for their phones to compare prices, look for store locations and inventory and find deals. In fact, searches for [mobile coupons] were up 90% over last year’s volume and mobile search volume for retail-related searches on Black Friday this year was up 200% over Black Friday last year.

According to our study, 55% of participants said they will use their smartphone’s location features on some or most shopping trips, while 47% will use a smartphone to compare prices and 42% will use their phone to search for the nearest store.

They might not fit in your pocket, but tablets are a rising device for getting some serious shopping done: 47% of study participants said they use their tablets to search for coupons or rebates and 44% use them to make purchases.

What’s hot this holiday season
It’s always fun to take a look at the most popular product searches just after Thanksgiving and try to predict what this year’s Tickle Me Elmo will be.

While netbooks emerged as a popular product last holiday season, this year’s data shows tablets overtaking netbooks in search popularity.

Also, the most popular products searched for on Google Product Search over the long weekend was the Leapfrog LeapPad Explorer. Other top products in their categories include:

• Kitchen Appliance: Keurig Special Edition B60 coffee maker
• Board game: Angry Birds Knock on Wood game
• Video game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Doll: Lalaloopsy Silly Hair doll - Jewel Sparkles
• Digital camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i digital SLR Camera

Finally, our survey found that 43% of consumers embraced the craziness of the Black Friday weekend and as of Cyber Monday, had finished the majority of their holiday shopping. But don’t panic if you’re part of the 57% majority. If last year’s trends hold true for 2011, we’ll see a big spike in shopping traffic in mid-December, when procrastinators like myself rush to get their shopping done.

Posted by Sameer Samat, VP of Product Management, Google

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Upcoming Developer Events

Online commerce continues to see explosive growth rates around the world. At the same time, new technologies make the online shopping experience easier for both merchants and shoppers. Over the next month, the Google Commerce Developer Relations team will be travelling to Japan, Australia, Spain and Germany to meet with developers and talk about the latest developments in online commerce.

We'll cover various topics from monetizing web apps and games with Google In-App Payments and AdSense Media Ads, to using the Google Shopping APIs (Search and Content) to build innovative applications. If you haven’t registered yet, here is the complete list of locations and dates:

• Google Developer Day, Tokyo - November 1, 2011
• Google Developer Day, Sydney - November 8, 2011
• Google DevFest, Barcelona - November 8, 2011
• Google Developer Day, Berlin - November 19, 2011

We’re looking forward to talking to you at one of the developer events.

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Commerce Developer Advocate

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Implementing the new Google Product Search feed specification

On September 22, the new Google Product Search feed specification that we announced in July went into effect. Since then, we’ve been gradually enforcing the new requirements by implementing additional checks over time in order to ensure a smooth roll out and give our merchants more time to react to errors and data problems.

We’re well on our way toward implementing all compliance checks, including those for Google Product Category, Tax & Shipping, and Variant attributes. Here are a few ways that you can make sure your product data feed is in good shape:

1. Review the information on the “Data Quality” tab in Google Merchant Center to see data quality errors. We recently changed this tab to give you a clearer view of the status of your items and to make it easier to see which errors are most critical. Where possible, we’ve also provided actionable advice and feedback on how to fix errors.

2. Also be sure to also check the “Data Feeds” tab in your Merchant Center account. This is where you’ll find error reports for feed-level issues (e.g. errors in syntax of submitted attributes).

3. Use the “New Test Data Feed” functionality (on the Data Feed tab) to submit a new test feed. This test mechanism also allows you to download a full feed processing report and get detailed insights into potential issues with your feed. Note that this functionality is currently only available for test feeds.

As we head into the holiday season, we want to thank our merchants for investing in making the necessary changes to their feeds and sending high-quality product data. We’re committed to maintaining a high bar for data quality and are working hard to make Google Product Search even better in the coming months.

Happy Shopping!

Posted by Mayuresh Saoji, Senior Product Manager, Google Product Search team

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Join us for a webinar on the Content API for Shopping

Are you an internet retailer currently submitting products to Google Product Search? Join us for a free webinar on “Keeping your product data fresh using Google’s Content API for Shopping”, on October 26, 2011 at 10AM PT. This webinar is for retailers who use Google Merchant Center and are looking for a more scalable, flexible way to update their product data. If you are a decision maker for your site’s marketing and operations, then this webinar is for you.

In this 60 minute session, you’ll learn about:

• Google Shopping data freshness policy
• The Content API for Shopping
• Analytics and reports on API usage
• Available support for the API
• Using Merchant Center vs. using the API: We’ll walk through the advantages and disadvantages of each

Google Product Search team members will be on hand for Q&A.

Register now for the webinar, and you can also:



Hope to see you at the webinar.

Posted by Amanda Surya, Commerce Developer Relations Team

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Enhancing the shopping experience on Google Product Search

Shortly after joining Google from Like.com, my team and I developed and launched Boutiques -- a fashion website offering women new ways to browse and shop for apparel. Today, we’re taking the features that shoppers absolutely love from Boutiques and incorporating them into Google Product Search -- so millions of people can use them every day. This is the first in a series of improvements we’re making to Google Product Search leveraging the computer vision and machine learning technology developed by the team we affectionately call our fashion and computer nerds. We hope you’ll enjoy what’s new today, and what’s around the corner for the upcoming holiday season. A Redesigned Homepage The first thing you’ll probably notice is our new homepage. This new look and feel is designed to inspire and facilitate easy, enjoyable browsing and shopping.

Better Ways to Shop, Starting with Dresses

By increasing the size of each image, simplifying much of the text around the images, and lightening the text color, we’ve emphasized the more visual aspects of apparel shopping. We’ve also integrated the most popular search refinements from Boutiques. Using the same innovative machine learning and computer vision technologies we developed for Boutiques, you can now browse dress collections that match the color, silhouette and genre you desire.

Explore visually similar styles
And because we think browsing and discovering new items is what makes shopping fun, we’ve added a feature to Product Search that makes it easy to do just that. Let’s say a particular dress catches your eye. Now, you can explore similar styles and discover new designers by clicking on that dress and viewing dozens of visually similar ones. We think you’ll find this fun --and addictive!-- and we hope it brings that element of surprise and discovery we all love with brick-and-mortar shopping to the online shopping experience.

An update on Boutiques.com and related properties
As we continue to integrate technology and lessons learned from Boutiques.com into Google Product Search, we will be redirecting shoppers from Boutiques.com to Google Product Search. The former Like.com team, alongside the Google Product Search team, will drive new ideas for apparel shopping through one unified product. The team is excited to be a part of the shopping experience on Google and have our work displayed to millions of users every day.  
If you’re a user of Boutiques.com and other Like.com websites, you’ll soon receive an email with instructions for saving your data before those websites are transitioned on October 14. If you have any questions please email us at boutiques-feedback@google.com. 
Like other teams that have joined Google, we’re thrilled with the opportunity to showcase our experience and technology to all of Google’s shoppers.
Burak Gokturk, Like.com Co-Founder and member of the Google Commerce team

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Google Content API for Shopping adds more metrics for merchants

We are happy to announce that the Google Content API for Shopping, which is used to upload product data to Google, now exposes performance (click) data. This data informs merchants how often their products have been clicked on Google Shopping within any given time period.

The data is easy to grab by adding URL parameters to product retrieval requests, specifying the start and end dates for which performance data is required. The returned product data contains new elements with the number of clicks per day for each product, for example:

We hope this feature helps merchants track these important metrics. For more information, please visit the documentation, and if you have any questions, please raise them in the developer forum.

Posted by Thomas Kotzmann, Technical Lead, Content API for Shopping

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The +1 button for retailers

(Cross-posted on the Google Retail and Google Merchant blogs)



The people we know and trust have a big influence on our purchase decisions. I bought the chef’s knife I use every day on the recommendation of my friend Eliot, who more than knows his way around the kitchen. And I always try to bring my friend Brian along when I’m music shopping, since he has a knack for pointing out great albums I’ve never heard of.



We’re excited about the +1 button because it brings these personal recommendations to a place where many purchase decisions start -- the Google search results page.



Adding +1 buttons to your product pages makes it easy for your customers to recommend the products they love on your site with a single click. And thanks to recent improvements to the +1 button, they can take the conversation even further by sharing your products right away on Google+.



From there, +1 annotations can help your products stand out. Potential customers might see +1’s from their friends and contacts on your search ads, your organic Google Search results, or even on your page itself.



We’ve worked with Bazaarvoice and PowerReviews to make it even easier to get the +1 button on your pages. Both companies have extensive experience in social commerce, and can help you develop the right strategy for implementing +1 buttons on your site.



Looking for a couple examples of retailers using +1 to help their products stand out on Google search? Jockey (working with PowerReviews) and Golfsmith (working with Bazaarvoice) have already added +1 buttons to the product pages on their sites.



If you’d prefer to add the +1 button to pages yourself, it’s easy to do. Just install a small snippet of code wherever you want the +1 button to appear. For advanced implementation FAQs and documentation, you can visit the +1 button page on Google Code.



As more retailers add +1 buttons to their sites, we’re excited about how much more helpful search results will get. The next time I need a new frying pan, I won’t need to call Eliot up -- his recommendation will be right there waiting for me.



Posted by Brian Lam, Strategic Partner Manager

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Google Offers beta launching in New York City and the Bay Area

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Following our first launch of Google Offers beta in Portland last month, we’re bringing great deals to the Big Apple and the Bay Area starting today. Subscribers who sign up at www.google.com/offers or via the new “Today’s Offer” tab in Google Shopper 2.0 for Android will start receiving emails with local offers in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area today.

We’re kicking off our bi-coastal rollout with offers from some local favorites:

• New Yorkers can mix salty and sweet with Belgian fries and mango chutney at Pommes Frites, savor chocolate molten cake with a glass of Malbec at Ayza Wine and Chocolate Bar or sample a delectable red velvet mini cupcake at Tonnie’s Minis in Harlem.


• In the San Francisco Bay Area, fresh donuts and apple fritters are served up 24/7 at Bob’s Donut & Pastry Shop on Polk Street. You can also get a taste of Provence at the Le Bateau Ivre Restaurant in Berkeley.

We caught up with the small business owners of New York Dog Spa & Hotel, Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland and San Francisco plus Toy Boat Dessert Cafe in San Francisco to learn more about them and why they’re running Google Offers in the coming weeks.



Also starting later today, you can buy, view and redeem a Google Offer of the day with Google Shopper 2.0 for Android. Once you’ve bought or saved an offer, it will appear in the My Offers tab in both the Shopper app and when you visit www.google.com/offers. Shopper will also connect you to all kinds of deals that are near you in the Nearby Offers tab, so wherever you are, you can still get great offers from Google even if you haven’t signed up for the daily deals in Portland, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.



This is all just the beginning. Whether it’s touring Napa wineries, grabbing a slice of deep dish pizza in San Francisco or Albany, CA or catching an improv show in New York, stay tuned for deals from the best these areas have to offer.

Next up, we’ll be heading to Austin, Boston, Denver, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Point your browser to www.google.com/offers to sign up ahead of time so you don’t miss the sweet deals when we launch in these cities.

Posted by Eric Rosenblum, Product Management Director, Google Offers

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Tips to help you shop safely online

(Cross-posted on the Google Public Policy Blog)

Ten years ago, the vast majority of Internet users said they wouldn't use the Internet for any financial transactions. Today, more than 70 percent of Internet users access their credit card account via the Internet, and worldwide e-commerce spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2013. And it makes sense why – the Internet provides not only vast product and service information, but also the opportunity to buy those goods right away.

For consumers and businesses to continue to benefit from online commerce, it’s important to keep it safe and secure. That’s why today we’ve posted a new Shopping Safety Tips page. Just as when you’re shopping offline, it’s vital to be a careful and informed buyer on the web.

We work hard to prevent fraud across our services and keep consumers safe online, including recent improvements to keep counterfeits out of ads. However, no individual or company can completely stop these activities on their own. Your help in reporting catch abuse and fraud are critical, and this page also provides links to where you can help us by reporting violations of our policies.



Posted by Derek Slater, Policy Manager

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Introducing +1 on Google Product Search

This summer, we’ll be celebrating my mom’s 60th birthday by taking her on an African safari, fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams. She’ll need a new camera for the trip, and since I know very little about cameras, the first person I’ll turn to is my friend Andrew, an avid photographer. I trust that he knows his stuff and will make a good recommendation.

When it comes to making important purchases, friends are often the first people we reach out to for advice. That’s why, starting today, we’re showing the +1 button on Google Product Search -- so you can +1 to make product recommendations and see which products your friends and contacts have recommended. By adding +1 to Google Product Search, we hope to make it even easier to make informed purchase decisions.

Here’s a snapshot of what I might see when I search for ‘digital cameras’ on Google Product Search. As you can see, Andrew has already +1’d the Canon EOS Rebel.

If I click on the camera, I’ll end up on the product page, where I can see the total number of people who have recommended this particular camera.

Users in the US with their language set to English will automatically begin seeing +1 on Google Product Search soon. To view recommendations from your friends and contacts in Google Product Search, make sure you’re signed into your Google Account.

While this camera is a bit more than I was planning to spend, my mom’s worth it and we’ll enjoy her photos for years to come. If she likes it as much as I think she will, you’ll know by our +1’s.

Posted by Lisa Coffey, Google Shopping Team

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Google I/O Commerce Recap

With Google I/O 2011 still fresh in our minds, we want to thank everyone who joined us for the Commerce track sessions at the Moscone Center in San Francisco or watched the sessions online from around the world.

This was the first time that Google I/O had an entire track devoted to Commerce and we are very pleased by the enthusiastic response from the developer community. The presentations covered a wide range of monetization topics and e-commerce tools from Google Checkout and a developer preview of In-App Payments for the web to Shopping APIs for content and search, eBooks and solutions for publishers who choose to charge.

All the sessions were recorded and are now available to watch on YouTube. If you weren't able to attend I/O, missed one of these great sessions or want to review a session again, please follow the links below for videos and session content:

• Google Checkout: A Foundation For Payments
• Introducing In-App Payments for the Web
• Introduction to Google Shopping APIs
• Google One Pass: A simple, flexible, Web API for Publishers
• Integrating to eBooks: APIs to Sell and Read eBooks for Affiliates, Retailers and Device Makers

And of course, we have also had several exciting new Google Commerce product announcements since I/O:

• Google Offers beta
• Google Wallet
• Developer API of Google In-App Payments for the web
• Google Books API now in Code Labs

We’re just getting started with many of these Commerce developer products, so stay tuned and keep following us @GoogCommerceDev for more news and announcements.

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Commerce Developer Advocate

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Shopping, saving and sharing on the Google Commerce Blog

Today we’re launching the Google Commerce Blog to bring you news, trends and ideas about shopping, retailing and payments from across Google and beyond.

Google commerce products help buyers easily find the things they're looking for no matter where they are. They also help retailers attract and retain customers. For example, retailers can list their items for free in Google Product Search and reach buyers right when they’re searching for that product. Google Shopper, Google Maps, Google Places and Boutiques.com aim to make savvy shopping easier and faster. And with Google Checkout, you can buy online quickly, safely and conveniently.

Commerce isn’t just about physical goods. Content providers like newspaper, book and magazine publishers and game developers can also sell their digital wares with a single sign-on using Google One Pass, In-App Payments or Google eBooks. Readers and players can access their paid content from any device, on the desktop, tablet, or mobile phones because it is stored in the cloud.

To share updates about these products and more, and to help developers better monetize their businesses, we recently hosted the first Commerce track at Google I/O featuring sessions from five commerce product areas. We want to keep that conversation going, and give you a window into what's new year-round.

Follow this blog for ways to make shopping, buying and selling in-the-cloud and on-the-go better.

Posted by Stephanie Tilenius, Vice President of Commerce

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