Google’s new Shopify integration & more eCommerce features

Codal Inc.
3 min readMay 24, 2021

At I/O, its annual developer conference, Google revealed its new partnership with Shopify, as well as some new eCommerce capabilities to help merchants become more discoverable in the search giant’s online shopping environment. Let’s take a closer look at these features and what they mean for eCommerce retailers.

Shopify integration

Google’s new Shopify integration will allow the eCommerce platform’s 1.7 million merchants to easily display their products across Google Search, Maps, Images, YouTube, and more.

“With just a few clicks, these retailers can sign up to appear across Google’s one billion shopping journeys each day, from Search to Maps, Images to Lens and YouTube,” said Bill Ready, the company’s president of commerce and payments

This new partnership opens up a large portion of Google’s ecosystem to Shopify merchants eager to draw in customers who have demonstrated buyer intent. Shopify merchants can make their offerings easily accessible to customers on the very same platforms they use to research and discover new products.

Shopping Graph

Most searchers are likely familiar with Google’s Knowledge Graph. It’s that panel that appears alongside search results that provides facts about people, places, and things. It’s a powerful feature that enables searchers to get information about entities and concepts in addition to individual relevant web pages.

Also announced at I/O, the Shopping Graph will expand on the Knowledge Graph’s capabilities by applying the same principles to online shopping. The Shopping Graph will pull in pricing information, reviews, videos, retailer product data, and more to provide users with a holistic view of a specific product or set of products. It’s powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and designed to give users real-time product information.

Additional features

Google also unveiled a few additional features aimed at making the online shopping process easier for customers. When a user views a screenshot in Google Photos, Google Lens will detect searchable items in the photo, and display a list of similar products. The company also debuted a new Chrome feature aimed at tackling cart abandonment by compiling all open carts into a single tab, designed to encourage customers to complete purchases.

Additionally, Google shared new functionality that will allow users to link merchant loyalty programs to their Google accounts. This seeks to help brands forge more direct relationships with customers.

What this means for eCommerce businesses

Inspired by the recent eCommerce boom caused by the pandemic, Google is investing considerably in its online shopping capabilities. This renewed emphasis on eCommerce bodes well for both merchants and consumers. More product visibility means more conversions for merchants — and more satisfied customers as well.

What should your business do to take advantage of these most recent updates? In order to ensure correct product information is pulled into the Shopping Graph, structured data markup should be implemented so search engines can easily identify the specs for your products. Additionally, eCommerce businesses can also submit product information directly to Google via the Merchant Center.

For businesses using the Shopify platform, all you’ll have to do is set up the Google Channel in your account. It will do the work for you, automatically syncing your products and relevant information about your Shopify store with the Google Merchant Center.

Take advantage of Google’s Shopify integration

Interested in migrating to Shopify? Codal is a certified Shopify partner with expert eCommerce designers and developers. Get in touch today.

Originally published at https://codal.com.

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Codal Inc.

A digital solutions partner with a data-driven approach that empowers companies at the intersection of UX design & development. https://www.codal.com/