Say Hello to Google’s Buy Now Button

In a move that really isn’t all that surprising, Google will soon be introducing a ‘Buy Now’ button for Product Listing Ads on mobile devices. With mobile search now outweighing search on desktops, it only makes sense for Google to expand in the direction. We take a look at the five Ws to see what’s installed for us all.

What?

Google have announced at the Re/Code Code Conference that they will be introducing a Buy Now button imminently. These Buy Now buttons will appear within Product Listing Ads on mobile devices such as smartphones. What this does is give a user the option to purchase a product directly through Google, without having to visit a business’s website and complete the purchase that way. Google will essentially act as, “the middleman in the transaction. Retailers will continue to own all orders and shipping arrangements,” (Johnstone, 2015).

Why?

While companies such as Amazon charge a ‘transaction fee’ for businesses to sell their products within the interface, Google will only continue to charge the cost a business incurs when someone clicks on their ad, therefore not making it any more expensive for a business already utilising Product Listing Ads (PLA), but increasing the chance of a business converting.

Who?

While Google helps users to search and source products on their own through the use of the most powerful search engine in the world, users have been using moving to sites such as eBay and Amazon, for example, which can source the products for them where users can buy them instantly, instead of having to click to follow the link to the business website where to product is sold.

When?

We believe that while this feature may only be rolled-out to a few key advertisers on Google, it will soon grow in demand and popularity to have a wider reach to SMEs.

Where?

This is anyone guess at this point in time. With Google only revealing last week that they are indeed going to be implementing a Buy Now button, we’ll be watching this space closely for any more clues.

However…

If a user continues to use the Google ‘Buy Now’ button, the payment information is unlikely to be passed on the business and will instead stay with Google, according to an article on Search Engine Watch.

Also think about the impact it could have on your site traffic. If people are given the opportunity to purchase products outside of your site, you may miss other opportunities to gather data about your customers.

Also think about the impact it could have if your competitors utilise the Google ‘Buy Now’ button as well. If they don’t, should you offer a point of difference, or if they do, should you do so as well? The question you will need to ask yourself is if it is right for your business. If you want to discuss this further, please call us on 1300 859 600 to speak with your Client Manager or a member of our Digital Strategy team.

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