It’s very seldom that we encounter this kind of news when Google is actually playing catch up with rivals instead of leading ahead of them. Well, at least for now, Yahoo has got something to brag about its Yahoo Shopping Search since it has been leading the market for quite some time now. But unfortunately this may not be for long as Google’s product search engine is reportedly cathing up big time in the comparison shopping market.
If we are to take comScore’s November data on the comparison shopping market wherein Google’s Product Search managed to post a growth of 786% in November 2008 as compared to last year dismal performance. According to comScore, Google Product Search gained 11.8 million unique visitors in November 2008 alone.Thanks to some improvement Google introduced to its Product Search engine, which if you may have already forgotten was previously known as Froogle.But post-Froogle, Google’s Product Search started to shape up and achieved its current market share.
As for Yahoo’s Shopping Comparison site, it managed to pull off around 27.6 million unique visitors in November 2008 which may not be a big leap from the same period last year, but enough for Yahoo Shopping to gained the number one spot in comScore’s survey of comparison shoopin. Google is still at no. 5 but it is certainly moving upwards as quickly as it possibly can.
Jerry Dischler, group project manager for Google Product Search said:
“We have made a number of changes to improve both the relevance and the quality of products that are displayed, to reduce erroneous entries and display popular products (making the site) easier for consumers to understand and more useful.”
So, what did Google do to achieve this quite astonishing feat? Basically because of Google Product Search’s direct approach to product searches than its rival comparison sites.
A very good example given by Yahoo Tech News was a specific search for Pure Digital’s Flip video camcorder. Yahoo Search would display a list of sellers and final sale prices for the said device.
And of course, the present economic conditions has put a pressure on individuals to be more cautious of their budget. Hence more consumers are finding ways to spend wisely.Another difference of Google’s Product Search with its rivals is the absence of product categories. Google Product Search can be characterized as a find-and-buy experience instead of a browsing experience.
Replacing product categories are sample searches by recent visitors to Google’s comparison shopping site. This is to spark a consumer’s interest to the product.
