Searching for particular retail products on line has been a rather hit and miss affair. A Google search gives you a whole range of links, many of which are irrelevant or, more annoyingly, outdated. There are a number of dedicated shopping services on line but now the web’s major search engine has its own shopping component. Type in “Big screen TV” and hit Shopping on the Google menu bar and you will be taken to a listing of retailers offering prices and contact details relevant to your search.
Retailers can sign up to Google Shopping for free by submitting a catalogue of their products to the Google Merchant Center. Traders should seriously consider submitting their products. It is early days for the Google offering and, while mainstream products like TVs are well represented, more specialised product ranges are yet to be populated in their database and many entries are simply ebay listings. Sounds like a good opportunity to get in at the ground floor. Try typing some of your products into the Google search box, click on the “Shopping” link on the menu bar and see what comes up.