Shopping during this pandemic has definitely become a challenge for consumers and of course for shop owners as well. While online shopping is the new norm, there are those who still prefer to go to stores to check out the merchandise. But of course, there are certain precautions that you need to take and the online part of the whole shopping can help you with that, even if you still eventually shop offline. Google Shopping is now bringing some improvements to how you can see search results.
When you’re researching a product that you want to buy, you can just tap the Shopping tab and then tap on the Nearby filter. This means you’ll see which are the stores nearest to you that carry the item you’re looking for. The Nearby filter is right beside others like “Buy on Google”, “On Sale”, and other filters that Google has been adding. This way you can explore both online and offline shopping.
You will also now be able to see what items are available in a store before you decide whether or not to go. If it’s still a product you’re looking for, you’ll see a map view of stores near you where it’s available then you can check their operating hours, distance from you, and a carousel view of the items that match your search. Basically, it’s a combination of Google Maps and Google Shopping.
A lot of people are concerned about having contact with strangers during this COVID-19 pandemic. So one of the best ways to shop at this time is to have less contact as possible with the sales staff. You’ll see labels on stores to see if they offer curbside or in-store pickup. From Search, you can also call the store directly to reserve an item and then go in and out of the store quickly.
Of course, all this information would be available if businesses actually signed up for Google My Business or upload their local product feed through Google Merchant Center. Google has made this free to help out businesses during this pandemic. No word yet if these new Google Shopping improvements will roll out globally.