Shopping on Google brings new features to connect more users to retailers
Last year we announced a new shopping experience on Search -- a frictionless way for Indian shoppers to discover new products on Google. We also enabled online merchants to list their products for free in the Merchant Center, along with auto feeds that made the process quick and easy.
We’ve witnessed incredible momentum since then. Indian shoppers engage with this shopping experience more often, and for longer periods of time compared to other markets, and there are now over 200 million offers available on Google Shopping. Not only that, share of clicks on listings that direct to small and medium business websites have increased by 30 percent! We’re committed to helping small and medium sized businesses succeed in India and are excited to announce new tools to help them connect with shoppers, online and off.
Getting local stores online with Google My Business
Although online shopping in India continues to grow in popularity, about 96 percent of shopping still happens offline. Soon, any local retailer will be able to create an online store through Google My Business and connect with the millions of shoppers searching for their products online. When they post photos of their in-store products, they will automatically be surfaced as product listings on Search and in the Google Shopping tab. We’re excited to welcome the 20,000 local businesses that are already on Google My Business in India into the Shopping experience when it launches early next year.
Shopping in Indian languages
The rate at which Indian language users are coming online cannot be overstated -- 9 out of every 10 new users coming online are Indian language users (largely using their mobile phones, from tier 2 and 3 cities.) And these users are searching online more than ever: at Google For India earlier this year, we announced that 20 percent of Search queries in India are in Hindi.
So, we are glad to share that we are extending the power of Google Translate to the Shopping tab as well as the Shopping home page for Indian languages.
Over the next two to three years, approximately 500 million non-English speaking users will be online in India, and we hope that this step will enable them to more easily find products in their own language. And on the merchant side, it requires no extra effort -- the products that will be showcased to online shoppers in India will seamlessly be displayed in their preferred Indian language. This feature will also be available to shoppers in India early next year.
As we shared when we launched Shopping on Search in India last year, our endeavor is to enable India’s small and medium retailers to grow and thrive, and to open a world of new online experiences for Indian shoppers. With the integration of Google My Business and Google Translate, we are excited to bring the full power of Google to Shopping.
