Google Can Become Essential Search With Its New Shopping Tools

"Google helps you research and learn" is the primary thing I took away from the new set of shopping tools that Google released. But before I get into it, let's talk about Amazon.

Amazon has long won at eCommerce for a few reasons:

First, their product detail pages are often the best on the Internet for that product.

Second, you can trust the availability and delivery promise.

That's Amazon's promise. Amazon is not known for great deals and not for great (or hardly any) merchandising. Google then essentially becomes merchandising for Amazon (did I mention Amazon invented the affiliate program?)

Google's new tools are built on a foundation of:

1 - We should have more data than anyone

- Google should be able to show you trending items faster than almost anyone except Tiktok

2 - We should have better AI than anyone (see the last point)

- New 3D imagery supports that, and finding related items to complete the look also supports it.

3 - Our marketplace can enable capabilities brands can't support on their own (yes even when it's "just search", Google is a marketplace of products and ideas)

- Shop in 3D fits here. If there is better imagery on Google than a D2C site, you are likely to learn that over time as a consumer.

4 - Stop trying to play Amazon's game. Become an "essential search", even if not the "first search."

- "shop" keyword plus other keywords is a landing page they can optimize for. What is the best landing page for that set of keywords with a known shopping intent?

I applaud Google for trying to train consumers to make things easier on them. In other words, using that shop keyword could be Google's replacement for opening up that Amazon tab.

5 - Help people decide how to buy, not just what to buy. That includes how does this product fit into the rest of your life?

- Google released buying guides.

- Shop the look helps you select related items.

- Find what's trending

Is it "enough" for Google? That's unclear. Is it a step in the right direction? Absolutely. It embraces the best of Google and improves the customer experience.

This is a strategic approach I can get behind.