Google image searches will include product listing ads for the first time.
'What's the price of this?’ and ‘Where can I buy it?’ 30% more consumers are asking these kinds of questions when they are using Google's Image search tool.
In response to this, Google has given retailers with physical high street stores the facility to allow consumers to buy an item online and pick it up in-store - known as 'click-and-collect' - through the search engine's local inventory ads. The Google-hosted local product page now allows merchants to add a store pick-up link which appears after a user clicks on a retailer’s Google local inventory ad.
Consumers using a mobile device will see the ads displayed in a carousel format above the organic image results.
Searches that include post codes or words like "near me" have roughly doubled in the last year, writes Jonathan Alferness, Google Shopping's vice president, product management. he comments: “As mobile’s role in shopping continues to grow, being there and being useful to people in their ‘I need some ideas,’ ‘which one’s best?’ and ‘I want to buy it’ micro-moments will drive more online and store sales.”