Google Shopping, no commissions for sellers on Buy on Google

Just last week we dedicated an in-depth analysis to Google Shopping, the (again) free online showcase of products made available by Big G, offering a guide to the opportunities available to those who work in the field of digital commerce. And in these days, the Californian company shows its intention to be serious with its operation to contrast Amazon in e-commerce through a very aggressive strategy: the latest news is in fact the abolition of fees for sellers for purchases on Buy on Google.

Google Shopping, no commissions for who sells through Buy on Google

It is once again Bill Ready, president of the Commerce division at Mountain View, to give the news from the blog of The Keyword, anticipating that “another important step to make it easier to sell on Google to retailers” is coming.

Sellers who “participate in our Google buying experience will no longer have to pay a commission“, and also can count on a wider choice because the platform opens to third-party vendors, starting with Paypal and Shopify.

All these changes have been tested for a few days in the United States and the company is working to secure international launches by the end of the year and in 2021.

As explained by the president of the Commerce division, Google’s goal “is to make digital commerce more accessible to retailers of all sizes around the world, offering consumers more choices and more ways to find the best products, stores and prices“.

The latest news of Google Shopping for retailers

So Google continues its work, which in recent months has made significant changes to help companies reach more consumers and, at the same time, help users find the best products, prices and places to buy online.

We reminded you how now retailers are free to list products on Google Shopping in the United States (and soon also in other versions of the search engine) and the same free listings also appear in Search SERPs along with paid ads.

More opportunities to be found and sell

This means that retailers “have several options to drive traffic to their website with free listings or Shopping ads”, and can also use the “Buy on Google” system to offer users a convenient way to buy something literally on Google, just when they discover a product on the shopping tabs from the search results, without having to visit other pages (even the one of the site that offers the item).

“Removing our commissions,” says Ready, “we are lowering the costs of doing business and will make it even easier for retailers of all sizes to sell directly to Google, starting with a pilot project that we will expand to all eligible sellers in the United States in the coming months”.

Integration with third-party providers, starting with PayPal and Shopify

By listening to feedbacks from market operators themselves, Google has decided to offer “the option of choosing their favorite services for issues such as payment processing, inventory and order management”.

In practical terms, this means that our Google Shopping platform opens up to “more digital trading providers, starting with Shopify for inventory and order management and Paypal and Shopify for payment processing”.

So, “if a retailer wants to sell directly on Google, they can start even faster and continue to use the tools and services that already work for their business”; or, who is in the middle of his first steps “in online sales you can choose between multiple options when you sign up at the Google Merchant Center”.

Simplifying the operations

Google is also working to make it easier to integrate its tools and the platforms already used by retailers, and in particular to make the Google Shopping ecosystem more compatible with “the existing processes of merchants“.

An example is the enabling of “commonly used product feed formats“, which allows retailers to link their inventory to sell directly on Google without having to reformat their data. In addition, a “new option will be added to allow retailers to add product information (such as images or technical specifications) by extracting them from our existing database instead of having to upload them themselves”.

More space to small businnesses

Having “simplified the sale on Google for a wider set of retailers, we are also witnessing a significant increase in demand to buy and support small businesses”: to continue this trend and “help people discover these small traders”, Ready announces the introduction of a new specific filter “for small businesses in the Google Shopping tab” and other features to help small businesses participate in online commerce.

The benefits for Google (and downsides for sites)

How can we interpret this move from the American giant?

The decision to zero commissions for retailers using Buy on Google is certainly a very aggressive and competitive strategy, which could lead many operators to prefer the Mountain View platform: for example, its main competitor, Amazon, charges fees ranging from 8 to 15% per item sold.

But there is not only the competitive issue, because (obviously) Google has direct advantages even with the waiver of fees: as we said, with Buy on Google the user buys directly on the SERP of the search engine, without ever going out during his journey and without even knowing the home page of the site that offers the article that he is viewing and buying.

The longer the time spent by a user within Google’s ecosystem (and the more interactions and choices he makes), the more revenues Google can make by publishing and collecting data.

On the other hand, this situation could paradoxically lead to disadvantages for retailers: if on the one hand the online store will earn more revenue from selling through Google – without having to give up any money for commissions – on the other hand it will lose visits to its Web.

Meaning that he gives up valuable lead generation opportunities through unique sales pages, such as the ability to make a customer sign up to the newsletter or a subscription, which are essential for loyalty.

Therefore, companies must be well aware of the scope of this news, carefully evaluating the pros and cons of joining the initiative without being influenced and only tempted by the zero-commission formula.