Google Shopping is a hit in India; search giant rolls out new features

In less than a year of its launch, Google Shopping has wowed India. The search giant has announced that Indians are among the top users of the feature globally.

"We've witnessed incredible momentum since launch of Google Shopping last year. Indian shoppers engage with our shopping experience more often, and for longer periods of time compared to other markets," Google said in a statement.

Shopping is a search-based feature offered by Google that allows users to browse through retail products, locate stores, compare prices and offers, read reviews and ratings, and much more.

Google further revealed that Indian small and medium businesses have also lapped up the Shopping feature, and are using it to connect to their customers more efficiently. Hits on SMB listings have increased 30 percent since the launch of Shopping.

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Inspired by the response, Google has now rolled out additional features.

It is integrating 20,000 local Google My Business listings into Search. Google My Business allows local retailers to create an online store almost instantly and make themselves more discoverable to shoppers via Search, Images, and Maps.

The much-downloaded app also allows offers a free website creator that lets micro entrepreneurs build a fully functioning business website in a few minutes.

"When retailers post photos of their in-store products, they will automatically surface as product listings on Search and in the Google Shopping tab," Google explained in a statement.

Google Shopping will also receive local language support (in Hindi, Gujarati, and Telugu) powered by Google Translate. This feature will be made available to Indian shoppers early next year. More local languages will also be added going ahead.

Surojit Chatterjee, VP - Product Management, Google Shopping, said,

"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."

Google Shopping has more than 200 million active offers now. Google is also introducing new tools for SMBs to gain shoppers and boost real-time engagement.

"Our endeavour 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 these new tools, we are excited to bring the full power of Google to Shopping," Chatterjee added.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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