The search tool optimizes results by harnessing user interaction and ranking models
Google has introduced a Retail Search tool to provide customers with more precise search results when shopping online and to prevent retailers from losing sales stemming from poor search results. The tool is equipped with advanced query understanding to give shoppers better search results and semantic search to match product traits with website content for discovery. The search tool optimizes results by harnessing user interaction and ranking models and also includes privacy practices that protect retailer data with access controls.
Among the retailers that have tested Retail Search are Lowe’s, Fnac Darty and Casas Pernambucanas. So far, the companies that have tried out the feature have seen an uptick in sales conversions, bigger basket sizes and better customer engagement.
Google created the Retail Search feature to address inadequate searches that lead to cart abandonment on e-commerce sites. The tech giant conducted a survey with the Harris Poll indicating that 94% of U.S. consumers quit a shopping session due to inaccurate search results. The company also said that retailers lose $300 billion in sales annually because of search abandonment in the U.S.
“Today, people expect search engines to understand their intent more deeply, return relevant results faster, and help them discover new products easily with personalized recommendations. Now, through the power of Retail Search, when a shopper searches for a long black dress with short sleeves and a comfortable fit on an e-commerce site, they should immediately get results for precisely that—rather than refining their search multiple times, or worse, giving up their shopping journey,” said Srikanth Belwadi, Group Product Manager, Google Cloud.
In addition to Retail Search, Google has released other tools to assist retailers with their e-commerce tech and make the shopping experience easier for customers. It also released a Shopping Graph tool, which tracks products, merchants, brands, reviews and inventory information using artificial intelligence.
