As More Consumers Choose To Shop Online, Google Rethinks Its Mobile Shopping Interface
Compare the numbers of this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday and you’ll soon realize that folks are overwhelmingly choosing mobile shopping rather than wait in lines at a store. Technology is getting faster; websites are becoming more user-friendly; and consumers are beginning to “trust” the online shopping experience more and more.
Look even closer at the numbers and you’ll discover that mobile shopping-related searches (beyond just the holiday season) have surpassed that of desktop.
What’s this tell us? What it means is that the modern-day online shopper’s mindset has changed. When you sit at a desktop, you’re more than likely committed to what Google refers to as a shopping marathon. In other words, you’ve resigned yourself to go online shopping for a considerable chunk of time.
Mobile shoppers are different. They shop in the moment – when they discover a few free minutes or if something comes to mind that they’re interested in investigating further. These types of shoppers often aren’t 100% sure what they’re looking for. They have a relative idea, but they’re not necessarily committed to one product or brand.
This mindset shift has led Google to have to rethink its Google Shopping interface in order to better serve the shopping-moment consumer. Here’s how the search engine giant has made changes that should help shoppers in the moment convert.
Getting Down To The Nitty-Gritty
With 40% of shoppers using broad search terms, it’s clear that the mobile shopper isn’t always sure what product they’re interested in. That’s why they’re firing up their phones to go on the hunt.
With Google’s latest mobile redesign, a shopper’s broad-term search will come back with relevant results to help the shopper narrow down her search. For example, if the broad search was tricycles for kids, Google will now show tricycles grouped by attributes people commonly shop by, including features, brands, and price.
What this does is give the mobile shopper a more organized layout to help her decide what she wants.
Once she’s decided what she wants, the shopper is free to browse through tons of related products, all without having to load a new page. From within her mobile phone, the shopper can tap on products, scroll through images, read reviews and compare product descriptions, all without loading new pages. This directly speaks to the mindset of the shopper-in-a-moment, who’s looking for both speed and information.
When she’s ready to choose her specific product, the new mobile redesign will allow the shopper to seek out merchants who carry the product, and she’ll be able to tell which stores have it in stock.
Bringing Mobile Shoppers In-Store
A unique aspect of the mobile shopper is that they very well may be on the road as they’re shopping. For brick-and-mortar stores, this could be a huge benefit to your in-person sales.
Roughly 25% of all shoppers avoid stores because they don’t want to waste a trip only to discover that the store doesn’t have a desired item in stock. But with Google’s new mobile redesign, your mobile shopper will know immediately which stores have what she’s looking for.
Using Google Maps’ database of information, the shopper will be able to tell which store is closest to her (or which one she recognizes and trusts the most), thus making it easy and worthwhile for her to make the trip.
Making It Easier For Shoppers To Discover And Explore Products
The new Google Shopping mobile redesign addresses the growing shift toward shopping moments, versus shopping marathons. But in order to make it work for you, there are a lot of moving parts involved.
For example, how organized and up-to-date is your shopping feed? Do you have a system in place that guarantees that your inventory online reflects what’s actually in store?
Also, how optimized are your product images? Images on a desktop may not look as pristine and crisp on a mobile phone. A poor image might be enough to push your customers elsewhere. And is your business on Google Maps? If you haven’t added your location to Google, formally, you risk missing out on a huge amount of foot traffic.
Here’s where OperationROI can help. We’ll assess your current strategies and ensure that there are no missing elements that prohibit your online consumers from making conversions through their phone or in person.
Learn more about how we can help you reach your mobile shoppers by calling us at 1-888-277-5429 or by filling out our contact form.
