Search giant Google, has unveiled a new feature that will help both the company and online merchants bring in some revenue. Google calls it Purchases on Google and it will make it easier for consumers to buy products directly from mobile search ads.
Products shown in search results expand to show more information when swiped to the right. Some of the information shown are ratings and availability in stores nearby.
When any of those items on an ad is selected, the user is taken to a retailer-branded product page hosted by Google. Purchasing and checking out from the page is handled by the user’s transactions already saved on Google’s systems. Apart from hosting the page and handling the transaction, the merchant who owns the item will be responsible for fulfilling the order.
Already, a feature exists via Google Now to show potential shoppers about a store’s sales, closing hours, loyalty card data, and more. However, this features are not very functional in African countries so it is likely that only some Purchases on Google features will work in Nigeria, if Purchases on Google will work in Nigeria at all.
This feature will be available via an update to Chrome browser for Android this month, and for iOS later on. A release date for the Google Now update that will have the new feature has not been revealed yet.
