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[0] is the reuters article that the linked article is based on. It provides a lot more information on the plans and a lot less time spent speculating (with a ve

[0] is the reuters article that the linked article is based on. It provides a lot more information on the plans and a lot less time spent speculating (with a very authoritative tone) the reasons behind the change. ("Anti-amazon tools"? really?) Also, it doesn't say anywhere that they are boosting amazon's competitors directly (or that they are "boosting" anything at all), just that amazon is unlikely to participate in this program that Google is creating that integrates stuff like checkout processes, carts, and payment processes into one unified system. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-retail-exclusive/exclusive-where-can-i-buy-google-makes-push-to-turn-product-searches-into-cash-idUSKBN1GV0B0?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-retail-exclusive/e...

dazc 9y ago
Yeah, if they wanted to 'boost' amazon's competitors they could stop having 3 organic amazon results on every product based search result. I always wondered why they were doing this, now I know.
- devenson 9y ago
  Embrace and extend.
Ajedi32 9y ago
Google's official blog post on the subject also explains things pretty well: http://adwords.googleblog.com/2018/03/shopping-actions.html http://adwords.googleblog.com/2018/03/shopping-actions.html It's basically just a new type of search result ad that charges companies based on actual sales driven rather than just clicks, and it integrates directly with Google's own shopping cart and payment system to enable things like ordering from multiple stores at once and buying things via Google Assistant.
- tracker1 9y ago
  Would love to see this integrated with something like https://pcpartpicker.com/ https://pcpartpicker.com/ ... Right now, I just limit their results to amazon and newegg. But if I could keep a unified cart, that makes it a little nicer of an option. On the one hand, waiting weeks for a part isn't fun since I've gotten used to Amazon's turn around time. But on the flip side, Amazon doesn't do a great job of giving you better options when shipping will be delayed, and filtering those results/sellers better.
  - atonse 9y ago
    I don’t understand how Amazon or Newegg haven’t made APIs available to build shopping carts for this. I remember when I built my server and was satisfied with the parts list, I still had to manually add each part to the cart.
    - mmanfrin 9y ago
      Because they don't want people price shopping for everything. If their margins are thin on 3 items and high on one, they want buyers to buy all 4, not to buy the 3 razor-margin items and the 4th elsewhere.
      - atonse 9y ago
        Ah ok good point!
- username223 9y ago
  > It's basically just a new type of search result ad... It makes me wonder how many of their other "verticals" will soon be, or already are, basically just a new type of ad. Flights? Restaurants? It's important to remember that the average person probably isn't aware that these are even ads. Ugh. It's a shame that Google wasn't satisfied with just being a $1B company that made a kick-ass search engine and sold tasteful ads next to the results. Instead, they're trying to get a taste of every part of the economy. Does anyone else remember the company that kicked Alta Vista's ass?
  - tyingq 9y ago
    Probably boils down to investor expectations. Google's revenue has, for a long time, grown more and faster than general internet growth. They are running out of ways to keep that going. Once everything above the fold is an ad, there's not much more you can do. This idea is one of a few remaining things they can do. At least until something other than search is driving revenue growth, like maybe GCE.
    - kzrdude 9y ago
      That ownership structure turns the company into a psychopath. Do anything for profit, sue to protect yourself and always bully with your size if you can. This is not a socially acceptable way to be towards others.
      - tyingq 9y ago
        Yeah, I agree, but I don't see a way around it. Big private companies are rare.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
- eveningcoffee 9y ago
  I was wondering already some time ago that when they will start directly grabbing the share of some other business revenue. I saw this coming when I learned that they have started to connect the cap between showing the ad and then directly entering the web page. Even when there was no correlation, they want to squeeze themselves in. This made me realize that their endgame is to get share from every sale. They want to claim that the sale happened because their ad and they are entitled to get the share. Maybe not now but soon.
  - Consultant32452 9y ago
    Well, it's been said for years that Google's biggest competition is not MSFT or Yahoo, it's Amazon. Put in that context, I think it makes sense. When I want to find the best price for a product I generally search two places: Amazon and the Google Products search. Doesn't make sense for Amazon to get a cut if Google doesn't.
    - nerfhammer 9y ago
      It's because one day Amazon will be the only place anyone buys anything and thereby it becomes the only company that would need to buy ads, and in a monopsonistic auction the winning bid is zero. Seriously. The less competition for ads the less money Google makes. Google has every reason to want a crowded marketplace and not a single 800lb gorilla as its only customer.
jjeaff 9y ago
I purchased a plane ticket recently through Google's system. It was an efficient and pleasant process and they had my card on file already. It allowed me to bypass the multiple nag screens and upsell screens that you have to usually have to navigate when purchasing (especially from budget carriers). If they do this for other products, I can see it catching on.
- tajen 9y ago
  It’s now officially a business-added service to skip the nag screens...
- onetimemanytime 9y ago
  >>If they do this for other products, I can see it catching on. Until they bankrupt the competition. Then, Google becomes them.
  - grouseway 9y ago
    Why is this downvoted? Google didn't start out with half a dozen paid search results mimicking the look of native search results at the top of their pages.
  - wbl 9y ago
    The competition is a click away.
dang 9y ago
Thanks! Url changed from https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/google-plans-to-boost-amazon-competitors-in-search/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/google-plans-to-boost-am....

dazc 9y ago

Yeah, if they wanted to 'boost' amazon's competitors they could stop having 3 organic amazon results on every product based search result. I always wondered why they were doing this, now I know.

devenson 9y ago
Embrace and extend.

Ajedi32 9y ago

Google's official blog post on the subject also explains things pretty well: http://adwords.googleblog.com/2018/03/shopping-actions.html http://adwords.googleblog.com/2018/03/shopping-actions.html It's basically just a new type of search result ad that charges companies based on actual sales driven rather than just clicks, and it integrates directly with Google's own shopping cart and payment system to enable things like ordering from multiple stores at once and buying things via Google Assistant.

tracker1 9y ago
Would love to see this integrated with something like https://pcpartpicker.com/ https://pcpartpicker.com/ ... Right now, I just limit their results to amazon and newegg. But if I could keep a unified cart, that makes it a little nicer of an option. On the one hand, waiting weeks for a part isn't fun since I've gotten used to Amazon's turn around time. But on the flip side, Amazon doesn't do a great job of giving you better options when shipping will be delayed, and filtering those results/sellers better.
- atonse 9y ago
  I don’t understand how Amazon or Newegg haven’t made APIs available to build shopping carts for this. I remember when I built my server and was satisfied with the parts list, I still had to manually add each part to the cart.
  - mmanfrin 9y ago
    Because they don't want people price shopping for everything. If their margins are thin on 3 items and high on one, they want buyers to buy all 4, not to buy the 3 razor-margin items and the 4th elsewhere.
    - atonse 9y ago
      Ah ok good point!
username223 9y ago
> It's basically just a new type of search result ad... It makes me wonder how many of their other "verticals" will soon be, or already are, basically just a new type of ad. Flights? Restaurants? It's important to remember that the average person probably isn't aware that these are even ads. Ugh. It's a shame that Google wasn't satisfied with just being a $1B company that made a kick-ass search engine and sold tasteful ads next to the results. Instead, they're trying to get a taste of every part of the economy. Does anyone else remember the company that kicked Alta Vista's ass?
- tyingq 9y ago
  Probably boils down to investor expectations. Google's revenue has, for a long time, grown more and faster than general internet growth. They are running out of ways to keep that going. Once everything above the fold is an ad, there's not much more you can do. This idea is one of a few remaining things they can do. At least until something other than search is driving revenue growth, like maybe GCE.
  - kzrdude 9y ago
    That ownership structure turns the company into a psychopath. Do anything for profit, sue to protect yourself and always bully with your size if you can. This is not a socially acceptable way to be towards others.
    - tyingq 9y ago
      Yeah, I agree, but I don't see a way around it. Big private companies are rare.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
eveningcoffee 9y ago
I was wondering already some time ago that when they will start directly grabbing the share of some other business revenue. I saw this coming when I learned that they have started to connect the cap between showing the ad and then directly entering the web page. Even when there was no correlation, they want to squeeze themselves in. This made me realize that their endgame is to get share from every sale. They want to claim that the sale happened because their ad and they are entitled to get the share. Maybe not now but soon.
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  Well, it's been said for years that Google's biggest competition is not MSFT or Yahoo, it's Amazon. Put in that context, I think it makes sense. When I want to find the best price for a product I generally search two places: Amazon and the Google Products search. Doesn't make sense for Amazon to get a cut if Google doesn't.
  - nerfhammer 9y ago
    It's because one day Amazon will be the only place anyone buys anything and thereby it becomes the only company that would need to buy ads, and in a monopsonistic auction the winning bid is zero. Seriously. The less competition for ads the less money Google makes. Google has every reason to want a crowded marketplace and not a single 800lb gorilla as its only customer.

jjeaff 9y ago

I purchased a plane ticket recently through Google's system. It was an efficient and pleasant process and they had my card on file already. It allowed me to bypass the multiple nag screens and upsell screens that you have to usually have to navigate when purchasing (especially from budget carriers). If they do this for other products, I can see it catching on.

tajen 9y ago
It’s now officially a business-added service to skip the nag screens...
onetimemanytime 9y ago
>>If they do this for other products, I can see it catching on. Until they bankrupt the competition. Then, Google becomes them.
- grouseway 9y ago
  Why is this downvoted? Google didn't start out with half a dozen paid search results mimicking the look of native search results at the top of their pages.
- wbl 9y ago
  The competition is a click away.

dang 9y ago

Thanks! Url changed from https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/google-plans-to-boost-amazon-competitors-in-search/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/19/google-plans-to-boost-am....