Google Cloud has launched Retail Search, a purpose-built industry solution that gives retailers the ability to provide Google-quality search on their own digital properties.
Built on Google’s deep understanding of user intent and context, Retail Search provides retailers with search functionality that is customisable for their own unique business needs, thus providing their customers with a higher-quality shopping experience.
“Providing quality search results is an industry-wide challenge,” said Srikanth Belwadi, Group Product Manager at Google Cloud. “While traditional search platforms are keyword-based, Google’s semantic understanding of query intent enables retailers to dramatically improve experiences for customers with learning-based search. Retail Search helps get shoppers what they want faster, leading to higher conversion rates and happier consumers.”
Search abandonment is a costly industry-wide issue for retailers. Customers have a low tolerance for bad search results on websites, which impacts sales and erodes brand loyalty. This act of “search abandonment” costs retailers more than USD300 billion a year in the US alone, according to a commissioned research conducted by The Harris Poll.
The poll also pointed out that 94% of consumers globally received irrelevant results while searching on a retailer’s website in the last six months, and 85% say they view a brand differently after experiencing search difficulties. As many as 90% of US-based retail website managers surveyed are concerned about the cost of search abandonment to their company.
More than half of global consumers (53%) say they often end up purchasing additional items once they find what they are looking for on a website. These costs and opportunities have only been exacerbated by the dramatic shift to digital commerce due to the pandemic.
Based on Google’s decades of experience in search, Retail Search helps convert purchase intent across retailers’ own websites and mobile apps by understanding consumer intent and mapping it to product inventory. It’s a fully customisable solution that allows retailers to provide helpful search experiences, including auto-complete, personalised results, and relevant promotions.
Machine-learning-based search results improve with every query. As with all Google Cloud solutions, customers control their data and Google does not use it to improve ads targeting.
Retail Search is a fully managed service as a part of Product Discovery Solutions for Retail, a suite of solutions that help retailers enhance their ecommerce capabilities and deliver personalised consumer experiences. Google Cloud’s unified Retail API allows developers to easily implement and integrate with other Product Discovery Solutions, such as Recommendations AI and Vision Product Search, making it easy to implement features like personalised recommendations, image-based search, and product browsing.
Macy’s was involved in the pilot project and are already seeing a reduction in search abandonment and an increase in conversion rates.
“Understanding our customers’ needs and being able to deliver results seamlessly is critical to providing an enjoyable shopping experience,” said Jilberto Soto, director of product management, search at Macy’s. “After a successful pilot which showed improved click-through rates and revenue per visit, we are excited to partner more closely with Google Cloud to continue to provide the experience our customers expect.”
