What: Google introduced a Retail Search tool to provide customers with more precise search results when shopping online. The tool also prevents retailers from losing sales stemming from poor search results.

Why is it important: The tool has been tested by Lowe’s, Fnac Darty and Casas Pernambucanas, with each company reporting an uptick in sales conversions, bigger basket sizes, and better customer engagement.

Google created the Retail Search feature to address inadequate searches that lead to cart abandonment on e-commerce sites. The tech giant conducted a survey with the Harris Poll indicating that 94% of U.S. consumers quit a shopping session due to inaccurate search results. The company also said that retailers lose USD 300 billion in sales annually because of search abandonment in the U.S.

In addition to Retail Search, Google has released other tools to assist retailers with their e-commerce tech and make the shopping experience easier for customers. Last May, the company expanded its partnership with Shopify, enabling sellers to easily showcase their products to customers on its mobile browsing tools. It also released a Shopping Graph tool, which tracks products, merchants, brands, reviews and inventory information using artificial intelligence. In September, the company introduced Google Lens, which allows shoppers to search and shop using images and videos on a given webpage.

Google releases Retail Search tool to improve shopper discovery

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