Courtesy of Google:google.com/ads/shopping/
Retail companies and Google have started working in concert to supplant Amazon‘s hold on consumers.
Inkling, an e-book startup, has tackled the Kindle business by creating layout specifically for mobile devices–and for good SEO results. Inkling divides books into cards, small pieces of book chapters, and gives each card its own URL. Inkling’s founder believes this design will help Inkling show up first in search results, giving consumers an appealing alternative to Amazon for book purchases.
Google’s attack on Amazon is, for now, dependent on collaboration with many online businesses. For instance, ShopRunner offers free two-day shipping service from dozens of big retailers for $79 a year. (Sound familiar?) But ShopRunner’s success depends on retail site partners attracting customers. Those retail sites need to improve their search rankings–by improving their websites–in order to attract customers. Bloomreach, another startup, works with retail sites to do just that.
Of course, retailers may have learned a lesson from Amazon. ShopRunner’s chief strategy officer is wary of relying to much on the power of Google: “Google will likely evolve from a friend of retailers to a foe. Google Shopping just needs a ‘buy now’ button to become a retailer rival.”
Read more at wired.com.
