Google revamps shopping feature with AI-powered product curation

Dive Brief:

• Google is revamping Google Shopping into an AI-powered personalized experience, with the changes rolling out over the coming weeks, the company announced Tuesday. 
• The updated Google Shopping experience features AI-created briefs that offer a combination of product recommendations and advice from sources across the internet based on search queries. Users’ homepages will also include personalized feeds, including shoppable products and videos.
• Shoppers can also use dynamic filters to narrow the search based on specific attributes like size or availability near a physical location. The updated experience incorporates Google’s virtual try-on feature.

Dive Insight:

Google is aiming to make it easier for people to research and buy the items they want.

Six in 10 U.S. consumers say making the right purchase decisions takes more effort than it used to, according to Lilian Rincon, VP of product for Google Shopping. Google seeks to create a better experience by reducing some of that burden.

“We all know that shopping is personal, so we really want you to imagine a store that’s always tailored to your current interests, and that’s what we have set out to create with the feed,” Rincon said during a media briefing last week.

Additional changes to the Google Shopping experience include giving shoppers the option to resume any searches they didn’t complete during the last session, and offering a personalized deals page with the lowest detected prices on a selection of curated items. 

Despite the emphasis on creating personalized shopping journeys, Google offers the ability to to turn off any personalized feature in user preferences.

The changes to Google Shopping follow on the heels of updates Amazon and Walmart made to their own search functions. Amazon is introducing AI Shopping Guides that add more detail to basic product searches, while Walmart is rolling out AI assistants and plans for personalized homepages for every customer.

Though Google isn’t a retailer, the changes to Google Shopping, along with planned updates to the basic web search, could set a new standard for consumer expectations.

“We think there’s a ton of opportunity to incorporate generative AI and personalization to really transform the shopping experience, and we’re really focused on doing it right and in a way that is rooted in solving real shopper pain points,” Rincon said.