If you sell products on any search engine or shopping site, you already know there is major competition. You probably have noticed the ongoing passive aggressive battle between Google and Amazon shopping. The most recent news is that Amazon has stopped bidding on Googles product listing auction in April. Amazon has been the top bidder for almost 2 years.

Let me start by explaining what Google Shopping is. It used to be called Product Listing Ads and allows customers to search for, view and compare products. They can appear in the main search engine results page or under the shopping tab. You can select the location you want to advertise, upload products, control bids, ad schedules, and optimize ads through your merchant center linked to your Google Adwords account.

What #GoogleShopping looks like for the customer. When a customer types or says ‘blue jogging shoes’ into Google, they may see sponsored ads appearing at the top of the page and pictures. All the pictures that showing is Google Shopping. You can click on the photos that best represent what you are looking for and purchase the products of your choice.

Ok now that I briefly explained what GS is now let me tell you why it’s best time to sell on this dominant platform. Imagine if you are a family owned retail store that sells casual clothes. Then down the block a mega store like Walmart opened up. What would happen to your business? Whatever conclusion you came to one thing for sure is it will hurt your bottom line. Imagine if that Walmart decided to just leave one day. Now tell me how that would impact your retail store. This analogy is how every retailer feels now when Amazon decided to leave Google shopping.

Amazon is a dominant shopping platform that offers fantastic opportunities for business owners and consumers. However, advertising on Google shopping today is giving sellers the ability to drive more potential customers to your website or brick and mortar. Getting to know you, your products, purchase more items, and all being done without paying the additional fees that Amazon or other shopping site charge. Most ecommerce/store owners say the overall experience is better for all parties when they come directly to their website rather than a shopping platform. The retention of clientele is also a bonus. The bottom line is to sell and make more money is now.

Now that you know some of the benefits of GS, I recommend a decisive strategy. First, designing a customer friendly website. Then drive traffic to your website by doing one or all of the above marketing strategies SEO, PPC, or Social Media. If you want to start doing this today or need some consulting don’t hesitate to contact us.