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BILL READY: We want to make sure that we’re democratizing access
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to great digital commerce tools for retailers,
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from the very largest to the very smallest,
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so that consumers have the greatest degree of choice available,
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just as much in the digital world as they did in the physical world.
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MARIE GULIN-MERLE: In today's episode of The Update,
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I talk with Bill Ready about
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how Google is helping accelerate businesses’ digital transformation,
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to be ready for what comes next.
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Your first announcement was to make it free to list products on Google in the US.
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Can you let us know the thinking, the strategy, behind such a massive change?
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BILL: As we think about shopping,
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we want to make sure that consumers can discover
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all the best sellers, and all the best products, and all the best values available to them,
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and that there's not something standing in their way.
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We announced a 70%+ lift in clicks on our shopping property as a result of that,
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and that's many more people finding many more of the things they need,
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and, importantly, from a broader set of inventory and a broader set of providers.
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While we've seen every size retailer benefit, from the largest to the smallest,
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we've seen small and midsized businesses benefit the most.
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MARIE: And then, the second significant announcement even more recently
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was to make the Buy on Google checkout experience
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to be offered at zero commission.
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So again, can you let us know the thinking, the motivation behind the change?
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BILL: We're not trying to be the retailer.
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We're trying to empower retailers with these tools
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and free listings that allow a user to click out to the merchant site
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as we present Buy on Google as another option for that listing.
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But the user has a choice to say, if I know enough to make a purchase right now,
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I can hit Buy on Google and complete that purchase.
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Or, if it's a higher-consideration purchase,
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or I need to know a little bit more from the merchant,
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if they need to know more,
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then we'll give them a really great handoff over to the merchant site directly.
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MARIE: What would you say to retailers
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who still want to promote their local store inventory?
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And how they can navigate all this?
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BILL: Even as consumers have shifted a lot of their behavior to online,
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there's still a tremendous amount of commerce
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that is still happening in the physical world,
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because sometimes the consumer wants to have it shipped directly to the door.
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Other times, the consumer is still driving by that storefront
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and wants to know where they can go pick something up,
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and we want to make sure that both of those are equally accessible.
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Because we know that for many retailers,
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that’s still a big way that they're engaging consumers as well.
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So you've seen us make those available through Local Inventory Ads,
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curbside pickup that can be highlighted right inside the Local Inventory Ad,
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Buy on Google has a buy online/pick up in store option now as well,
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and we recently put new filters in for the consumer so that consumers can toggle
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and say they're looking for local inventory or they're looking to engage a small business.
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MARIE: I remember how dealing with different platforms can be super challenging.
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I remember the fear of the applications, the complexity,
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so I know that this was on the top of your mind for you and your teams,
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to make the new features as easy as possible to get started.
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How is it working, and can you tell us more?
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BILL: We're saying to merchants, come as you are,
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bring the providers that you already use and trust,
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as well as things like inventory feeds
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where we're opening up to more, different feed formats.
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Whatever feed formats the merchants are using already,
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we're saying, bring those feed formats to us.
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And we're going to try to work with the existing formats you may have
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as much as possible.
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This is a long-term commitment from us.
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We really appreciate the partnership on all those things through this,
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and we're going to continue to make sure
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we show up to be a great partner on our side of it as well.
