Indians warm up to Google's 'Shopping' feature to track several offers, reviews of products

NEW DELHI: Google on Tuesday said India is among the top markets for its 'Shopping' feature and has received strong response from small and medium businesses that are using it to connect to more buyers. In December last year, Google had launched 'Shopping' in India to allow users to easily filter through offers, review prices from multiple retailers and find products to shop.

"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 Shopping Vice President - Product Management Surojit Chatterjee told .

He added that there are now over 200 million offers available on Google Shopping.

"We have seen a strong traction, especially for small and medium businesses... clicks on listings that direct to small and medium business websites have increased by 30 percent," Chatterjee said.

He added that the company is now introducing new tools to help businesses connect with shoppers easily.

Through Google My Business (GMB), any local retailer can create an online store and connect with millions of shoppers searching for products online. Going forward, when these retailers post photos of their in-store products, they will automatically be surfaced as product listings on Search and in the Google shopping tab.

"By way of this launch, Google is bringing 20,000 local businesses that are already on GMB into the shopping experience... The feature is rolling out and expected to be available to shoppers in India early next year," he said.

Chatterjee noted that over the next two to three years, about 500 million non-English speaking users are expected to be online in India.

To facilitate the shopping experience for these users, Google is extending support for Indian languages and product listings on the shopping home page will be available in several Indian languages, starting with Hindi with the merchant side having to make no extra effort into translating the catalogue.

"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," he said.