Google Data

Back in December, we announced that on June 1, 2011, the Google Base Data API will be decommissioned and it will no longer be possible to submit or access content through the Base API.

To replace the Base API, we’ve introduced two new Shopping APIs: Content API and Search API. If you currently use the Base API for managing your products on Google Product Search, you should prepare for the June 1 change by migrating to the new APIs as soon as possible. These resources will guide you through the transition:

• Content API documentation
• Google Base Data API Deprecation FAQ
• Migrating to the Content API for Shopping
• Migrating to the Search API for Shopping
• Google Content API for Shopping developers forum

If you are a retailer using Google Commerce Search to power search and navigation on your e-commerce site, you will also need to ensure that you are fully migrated over to the new Shopping APIs by June 1. In addition to the documentation above, please also make note of the Migration Guide for Google Commerce Search. Furthermore, if you require any technical support, please submit a request through the Support Portal.

Posted by Kirill Kounik, Product Manager, Google Shopping

Last month, we announced a few upcoming changes to merchant feed requirements for Google Product Search listings. This is a reminder that on May 3, we’ll begin requiring unique identifiers for all products (except apparel and one-of-a-kind items) for feeds targeting the US, UK, France, and Germany. After May 3, products without unique identifiers may not be listed on Google Product Search. As you’re preparing for the May 3 data requirement, keep in mind that on June 6, additional data requirements will also take effect. View the original blog post to learn more and get a head start on these changes.

Posted by Enrique Munoz Torres, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center

If you’ve ever spent your Saturday calling different stores or driving around town in search of one specific product, then it probably occurred to you that there must be a better way. Today we’re announcing Local Product Availability on Google Place Pages – a new feature that automatically brings your offline catalog to the web, letting customers view your products and search your local inventory on your Place Page before visiting your store.

When you provide Google with local product availability data, your Google Place Page will now automatically include a new section, ‘Popular products available at this store’, featuring five popular products along with price and local availability. For shoppers unfamiliar with your business, this section shows the types of products available in your store.

If shoppers are looking for a specific item, they can click ‘Search within this store’ to search your product inventory to see if a particular item is in stock nearby.

Getting started
To automatically display local product availability on your Google Place page, you’ll need to first share local availability data with Google through a Merchant Center account and claim your a Google Place page. For instructions on sharing local product availability with Google, read this Help Center article. Learn how to claim your Google Place page here.

Posted by Paul Lee, Senior Product Manager, Google Product Search

As we announced on the Official Google Blog, we’ve just launched the third-generation of Google Commerce Search – our search solution for e-commerce websites. For the many retailers already submitting their product data feeds to Google via Product Search, our solution may be an interesting consideration for powering search and browse capabilities on your website.

Google Commerce Search uses your existing product search data feed to power a relevant and completely customizable search experience on your e-commerce website. In fact customers like Woodcraft Supply, HealthWarehouse.com and BabyAge.com have all leveraged this exact data feed to quickly improve their web experience and deliver strong business returns – in the case of Woodcraft.com increasing search revenues 34%.

With the new release, we’re making shopping more interactive, introducing multi-channel product discovery, and providing sophisticated tools to help retailers manage the shopping experience on their site.

Here are some of the cool new features in this release:

• Search As You Type: Search is quickly becoming a more interactive experience. Search As You Type provides instant gratification to shoppers – returning product results with every keystroke, right from the search bar.
• Local Product Availability: This year, 46% of retail sales will be influenced by online research – but more than 90% of total retail transactions will occur in-store (eMarketer, June 2010). Local Product Availability helps retailers bridge online and offline sales by showing shoppers when a product is also available in a store nearby – in-line with the search results.
• Enhanced Merchandising: Retailers need to be agile to effectively respond to shopping trends and market dynamics – for example ramping up certain underdog basketball team apparel going into the Final Four! Our new merchandising tools allow retailers to easily set query-based landing pages, and to create promotions that display alongside related search queries in retailer-designated banner areas.
• Product Recommendations (Labs): To help consumers discover related products, Product Recommendations show shoppers what other people viewed and ultimately bought.

With this release we’re also welcoming three new retail partners: Forever21, General Nutrition Company (GNC) and L’Occitane. GNC implemented Google Commerce Search in less than a week on their mobile website, while Forever 21 and L’Occitane are currently working to implement various new features of GCS, such as Search as You Type and Local Product Availability. Here’s what Christine Burke, VP of International E-Commerce at cosmetics staple L’Occitane had to say about GCS 3.0:

“L’Occitane is unique in that our beauty products center around ingredients – such as lavender, shea butter and verbena. As our customers visit our re-designed website to shop and research our products, we are excited about the speed and accuracy of on-site search results that will be provided to us through Google Commerce Search. We are also very excited about the potential of the new local inventory feature, which can help us connect our customers with their favorite products in one of our 170 US boutiques.”

Learn how you can provide the latest in retail technology on your website with Google Commerce Search. Sign up for our upcoming webinar (details below). You’ll hear from Nitin Mangtani, Group Product Manager, in conversation with Google Commerce Search customers about how these new features are transforming retail for the better.

Google Commerce Search 3.0: Driving user engagement and cross-channel coordination in retail
Wednesday, May 5, 2011
2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT

Posted by Richard Liu, Engineering Manager, Google Commerce Search

Later this year, we plan to launch Google Shopping*, our shopping search engine, in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. To participate in this free service, merchants use a site called the Google Merchant Center to submit and track their product data fee…

(Cross posted on the Google Commerce Blog.)

Editor’s note: Woodcraft Supply is one of the nation’s oldest and largest suppliers of quality woodworking tools and supplies, offering more than 20,000 products through its retail stores, catalog, and website. We’ve invited today’s guest blogger, Nancy Miller, VP of Internet Sales and Development for Woodcraft Supply, to talk about how Google has helped her increase search revenue and transform Woodcraft’s online store. To learn more about her experience, read the Woodcraft.com case study.

At Woodcraft, we strive to provide the best experience for our customers, which means helping them find the right tool for the project. To this end, our retail stores are staffed with knowledgeable woodworkers. Online, we need a powerful search engine.

Prior to our switch to Google Commerce Search, Woodcraft had been using another popular third-party search solution – but we just weren’t seeing the same level of satisfaction on our website as we were in our stores. Visitors to our site often couldn’t find the products they were looking for, and our support team fielded a lot of complaints. Our customers were frustrated and our conversions suffered so we decided to make a change.

After thorough research, we picked Google to host our e-commerce search; their service provided better results, improved rankings, and an intuitive administrator interface. Google Commerce Search is simpler to maintain and much more effective than our old solution – even before customization. In fact, during our testing period we moved half of our traffic to Google Commerce Search and left the remainder on our existing solution – and with Google our conversions from search were 27.7 percent higher and our search revenues were up 34 percent!

Beyond providing a multifaceted search experience with better results, and increasing our online sales, Google Commerce Search has made our customers and employees much happier with our website. The complaints have virtually disappeared, giving us more time to focus on our passion: woodworking.

Above: Nancy Miller, Kyle Crabtree, Chris Brown, Matt Hall, Steve Markle September Fleming, and Daniel Pennock with their latest woodworking project.

Posted by Nancy Miller, Woodcraft Supply

(Cross-posted on the Google Mobile Blog)As we announced last November, millions of people have downloaded Google Shopper for Android to help them shop on the go. Today, we’re excited to let you know that Google Shopper, our popular Android shopping app…

(Cross-posted on the Google Mobile Blog)As we announced last November, millions of people have downloaded Google Shopper for Android to help them shop on the go. Today, we’re excited to let you know that Google Shopper, our popular Android shopping app…

Does this drill require one battery, or two? How long is the included AC adapter cord? When you’re buying items online rather than in a store, it can be hard to make sure you have all the information you need about a product. To help solve this proble…

Does this drill require one battery, or two? How long is the included AC adapter cord? When you’re buying items online rather than in a store, it can be hard to make sure you have all the information you need about a product. To help solve this proble…

(Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)If your company runs an ecommerce website, you’re probably taking a well deserved break with the end of the holiday rush. But as we move into a new year, it’s also a great time to start thinking about …

(Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)If your company runs an ecommerce website, you’re probably taking a well deserved break with the end of the holiday rush. But as we move into a new year, it’s also a great time to start thinking about …